After the Bridge
by can08writer
Summary: After Rick disappears in episode 9x05, Michonne just can't accept that he's really dead. When he returns 11 years later with a tale of a brand new threat to their entire family, the Grimes family must prepare themselves to end the threat for good.
1. Chapter 1

This is a mini-fic of important moments that happened in Michonne's life after Rick disappeared, and how the Grimes family learned to go on without their husband/father.

 _It was one minute after the bridge._

She was still screaming. She couldn't stop. She couldn't do anything else. She wanted to run. She had to find him, but Maggie and Carol were holding her back. There was fire everywhere. It was so hot. She could feel the fire burning her face, her arms. Carol was trying to drag her backwards by her elbows, but Michonne couldn't leave. She couldn't. She screamed louder, kicking, crying, fighting to be free.

"Michonne. Michonne I'm so sorry," Maggie whispered in her ear. "We have to move back, it's too dangerous here."

"Please," she moaned, begging Rick to come back. "Please no."

"Michonne, you have to move back," Carol said, rubbing her back while simultaneously keeping her elbow in a strong grip. Michonne struggled against her hold, unable to tear her eyes away from the fireball consuming the bridge Rick had worked so hard to visualize.

He had to be alive. He had to. Maybe he's in the water. Maybe he fell.

"Let go!" Michonne screamed, fighting harder now. "I have to see. Please let me see," she begged.

"He's gone Michonne," Maggie said, still in shock herself. "You can't go over there. That bridge is on fire."

"Nooo," Michonne groaned, falling backwards onto her behind, the word seemingly sapping her energy. She couldn't accept this. This wasn't his ending. Rick deserved so much more than this. "I have to find him. I have to find him."

"I'm so sorry," Carol whispered, "I'm sorry but he's gone. You can't go with him. You have to go home to your little girl. You have to come home to her."

Michonne's groan turned into heart wrenching sobs, and Maggie held her head to her chest.

"C'mon. C'mon," Maggie whispered.

Michonne couldn't fight anymore. She allowed Carol and Maggie to take her away from the fire. They were supporting most of her weight, and her feet lightly skimmed the leaves as they dragged her away.

 _It was one hour after the bridge._

She was sitting on her horse, unsure how she'd gotten there. They were searching for Rick's body. She'd demanded they did, or she'd do it herself. The bridge was still on fire. She wasn't close enough to see it, but the smoke and ash filled the forest, and coated the trees with soot. It was hard to breathe.

"Right now we can't get any closer," she heard on the walkie. "The area around the bridge is too unstable and the smoke is dangerous. We'll have to come back in the morning when the fire dies down. I don't think we'll find anything left of him anywa…", Maggie turned down the walkie volume when she realized what was being said.

Michonne stared straight ahead unblinking while her horse shifted nervously.

Maggie placed a hand on her thigh and rubbed gently, looking up at Michonne. "He saved us all Michonne," she offered. "That was who he was. What he did. If he had to pick a way to go, that would've been it."

Michonne stared, still unable to decide if this version of reality was real or not. How did her day start off so well and end like this? What was she going to tell her daughter? How could she go home without him?

"I need to find him," Michonne whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Okay," Maggie agreed, realizing Michonne would never let this go. "But not today. Today you're gonna go home and be with your daughter."

Michonne burst into tears. Wet, sorrowful tears that blurred her eyes and dropped snot from her nose. Tears that couldn't be hidden under a tissue, or stopped with a hug. Tears of loss, and devastation and despair, because it was just she and Judith now. Rick was gone. Rick was gone. He was gone.

Maggie guided Michonne's horse forward by its reigns and handed it to Tara.

"Take her home," Maggie ordered. "Tell them what happened, and that someone needs to stay with her. Alright? And maybe Judith should stay with you or Rosita for a while."

"I got it," Tara said, glancing up at a teary Michonne. "We'll take care of her."

"Thank you," Maggie said, giving Michonne's leg another squeeze.

"C'mon Michonne, let's go home," Tara suggested before tying Michonne's horse's reins to her own saddle in order to guide the horse.

Michonne's heart broke even more at the words. Her home was gone. Her home had exploded in a fireball without a goodbye, without a last kiss, a last hug, a last I love you.

She allowed Tara to guide her horse away from the smoke, the fire, the people milling about, but she didn't know where she was going. Her home was gone.

 _One day after the bridge._

Judith still didn't know. Michonne didn't know how to tell her that her father was dead. That he'd never be coming back, just like her brother and all the other family members she had lost. She didn't even want to say it because Michonne didn't truly believe it. She hadn't seen a body, she hadn't seen Rick die. She didn't feel his death in her heart.

Everything felt so surreal, almost like everyone was pretending he was dead to convince Michonne he was, but she thought if he'd died she'd know. Something in her would change somehow, but she didn't feel what she thought she would.

The night of the explosion, Michonne was in no state to care for Judith, and the girl had stayed with her babysitter. The next morning, at Michonne's insistence, Tara brought Judith to Michonne. Blissfully unaware of the sadness of the adults, Judith had wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and kissed her cheek. Tears streamed from Michonne's already bloodshot eyes.

Judith stared at her curiously and pointed at the tears that she'd never seen from her mother before.

"Yea baby, it's okay," Michonne reassured her, "Mommy is just sad. But… but you know what'll make Mommy feel better?" she asked.

Judith shook her head, her forehead scrunching in concern.

"Painting with my baby girl."

Judith smiled and wiggled out of Michonne's arms, running to grab the paints.

Michonne took a moment to compose herself before grabbing the art paper and easel and setting them up on the porch. Judith returned moments later carrying the paint and holding it up for Michonne to open.

Michonne managed a smile and slid Judith's smock over her head before opening the paint and letting her get to work.

"I'm gonna draw a tree," Judith said confidently, "and you, and me, and the lake."

"Okay baby girl," Michonne said softly, stroking Judith's hair. "Sounds great."

Judith began to paint, her strokes of different colors soon morphing together to form a picture. Michonne allowed her thoughts to drift away as the girl focused on her commission.

Rick was gone, but she didn't feel he was dead. She couldn't accept that until she saw something, felt something, that confirmed it. She had to go back to the bridge and look for herself. She had to, or she'd never believe he wasn't coming home.

She was startled from her thoughts by Judith tapping her on the arm.

"Look. I'm done Mommy," she announced, stepping to the side so Michonne could see the picture.

She'd painted the lake outside of their home, surrounded by trees. She'd painted herself and Michonne holding hands in the middle of the picture, but off to the side, almost floating in the air was a man that Michonne recognized well.

"See?" Judith asked, "I painted you, and me, and Daddy too."

Michonne smiled and nodded, a new round of tears escaping her eyes. She wiped at them quickly, not wanting to upset Judith.

"Why is Daddy up in the air like that?" Michonne asked her curiously. Rick's feet weren't touching the ground like Judith and Michonne's were.

"'Cuz he's watching over us like Carl," Judith said.

Michonne's head snapped to Judith in surprise.

"What? Honey who told you that? Who told you Daddy is watching over us?" Michonne asked, thinking someone had already told Judith about Rick's fate.

Judith shrugged her shoulders. "Daddy always does," she explained.

Michonne smiled and wrapped her arms around the only child she had left.

"Do you feel better now Mommy?" Judith asked.

"Yes" Michonne said with a smile. "I feel so much better baby girl. Here, let's put your painting on the wall."

 _One week after the bridge._

Michonne had visited the site every day, looking for something, closure of some kind that never came. On day seven, underneath a cluster of unassuming foliage, Michonne found his Colt. At first she thought she was dreaming, that she was seeing something that she had longed for for so long. She bent down and stretched out her arm, letting her pointer finger poke the shiny piece of metal. It was real.

Carefully, as if it would disappear if moved too quickly, she lifted the weapon and inspected it. It was covered in blood. His blood. Blood and soot. He must've been bleeding badly for his gun to be this red.

"Rick" she whispered, clicking the safety back on the gun. She spun around, searching the ground for any other sign of him. Looking for any proof of his survival. She could find nothing more.

"Rick!" she yelled, hoping to hear a weak response. He could've lived. Maybe he fell into the water. Maybe he was just hurt badly but still alive.

The sound of a crow cawing was her only response.

Michonne caressed the gun and pressed the handle to her mouth, giving it the final kiss she could never give Rick. If she hadn't had Judith waiting for her at home she might've used his gun to end it all, and meet him on the other side, but her baby girl needed her.

Michonne was grateful to have found some part of him. Something to remember him by. She tucked his gun into her back pocket and started her trek up the hill flanking the destroyed bridge, to her horse.

She looked back at the charred and still smoldering remains of the bridge, and at the flowing river underneath it. There was something pulling her back from accepting that she'd never see him again. She'd seen the explosion, the blood, and the devastating effects of the collapse, but still she held onto the almost impossible hope that he'd survived.

Still, he wasn't here, and Judith still didn't know. Michonne could feel the weight of his gun in her back pocket, the heaviness keeping her grounded in reality. His gun was here and he wasn't, and no matter what she felt she had a child to raise. Chances were he was gone, and she couldn't bear to dance around the issue whenever Judith asked when Daddy was coming home. She couldn't continue to lie to her daughter. He may never come home.

Her mind set, Michonne mounted her horse and spent the remainder of the ride home thinking how she'd break the news to her daughter that her Daddy was gone.

 _One month after the bridge._

Michonne had kept herself busy once she'd decided to stop visiting the bridge. She could still feel Rick in her heart, in her soul, but he wasn't here and she had to move on.

She'd finished writing her charter, putting all of her effort into it as a distraction from her aching heart. When she was done, she took Judith with her on a tour of all the communities, getting each leader to sign and agree to abide by the set of fundamental beliefs. Once all the others had signed, Michonne was the last to put her signature on the document, signing her name Michonne Grimes. She had to force herself not to cry as she thought that Rick should be here with her, signing his name as well.

When she returned home with Judith, after the whirlwind of travel and diplomacy, she had a moment to breathe and reflect. She also had a moment to realize that she hadn't been paying attention to her body. She was late.

Michonne tried to ignore it, expecting her period to start every day for a week. Then she started to worry. She and Rick had decided to try for a baby, but what were the chances that they'd succeeded, now, after he was long gone. Surely fate, or God, or whatever was controlling this unending life they were living wouldn't give her a child right after its father was taken away.

She tried to ignore the prospect that she could be carrying Rick's child, until four weeks had gone by and there was no sign of her missing period. With trepidation, she'd sequestered herself in her bathroom and took an expired pregnancy test alone.

It was positive.

Unable to process her feelings either way, Michonne shoved the test into the bathroom cabinet and continued her day, caring for her daughter and her community.

She missed Rick all the time, but night time was when she missed him the most. Judith had been put to bed, and the house was in silence. She lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, her mind unable to rest.

He had to be dead. If he wasn't dead, where was he? How could he stay away? But there was no body, no proof that he'd died, and no proof that he'd survived. How could he have survived with all the blood he was losing when she'd seen him. What had happened to him before the explosion? Was he bit? If he was bit, even if he survived the explosion, it would explain why his body was no longer there.

Michonne released a quiet sob. It pained her to think he could be wandering the roads as a walker. Her husband, Judith's father, and the father of their… no, she couldn't think about what was happening inside her right now. What mattered was he wasn't here, and she needed to accept that.

Michonne tried to shut her brain off, but she couldn't, the thoughts permeating any relaxation she tried to have. She glanced at her katana, the only thing that allowed her to give off some steam. She'd been going out at night, more than she had before, and for longer hours, but she'd convinced herself that she had to stop. She had to deal with the loneliness, the pain, the despair in some other way. She had to cope without killing walkers, and so she'd been stopping herself from running off.

She stood and walked over to the weapon, running her fingers intimately down its intricate patterns. Killing would make her feel better, but she had to stop using it as a crutch.

Pulling her fingers away, Michonne made her way out of her room and down the hallway to Judith's. The girl was sleeping on her side, facing away from the door, her blond hair plastered across her forehead, and her cherub-like cheeks propped up against her arm.

Michonne stared down at her innocent daughter. Judith still asked when her Daddy was coming back. She didn't understand the death that shrouded and shaped her entire life.

Michonne had told her that daddy was with Carl in heaven, but Judith then politely asked to go to heaven and see him.

There was no way for Michonne to make Judith understand the permanence of death, and the fact that there was something that could ever prevent her Daddy from coming home to see her. Besides, Michonne didn't truly believe he was dead anyway, so how could she convince a child?

Michonne gazed down on this girl who had lost her real mother and father, the man who raised her as his own, and her brother. Judith was alone in the world just like Michonne was, and all they had was each other. Well, not just each other. Michonne placed her hand against her flat belly. Maybe they had something else too, but she wasn't ready to think about that yet. She was still trying to stop from spinning out of control.

Quietly, she pulled back the blanket of Judith's bed and slipped underneath, wrapping an arm around the sleeping child. She placed a kiss in Judith's hair, and Judith stirred slightly but didn't wake. Michonne lay there, gazing at her motivation for pushing forward, as she slept. It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Michonne too fell into a fitful slumber.

 _6 months after the bridge._

The baby, who Judith had arbitrarily named Bump, made his presence known in the months to follow. Judith was fascinated with the size of Michonne's belly, often poking at her mom and sibling to get her attention.

Michonne had tried to ignore her growing belly for months, refusing to talk about or acknowledge the child within her. She was afraid. Afraid to admit that Rick would never see his child. Afraid to admit that Carl would never see his brother. Afraid to admit that this baby, who was a representative of everything she and Rick had fought and planned for for years would grow up without the knowledge of the father that had wanted him so badly. It took months, and lots of gentle prodding from Maggie, Rosita, Carol, Tara, and even Father Gabriel, to finally allow Siddiq to do an ultrasound.

Judith was with her the first time she'd heard the baby's heartbeat, and seen the little one on the ultrasound machine. Judith had gasped in excitement, and Michonne had burst into tears of joy. That was when Michonne accepted that this baby was a living piece of Rick. He would never die if this child, this new life that was half of him and half of her lived. In her heart, Michonne finally embraced the idea of being happy about the baby in her womb.

After hearing and seeing her brother, Judith had become obsessed with the pregnancy and had named the baby Bump.

"Mommy can you read me and Bump a story?" Judith asked, plopping herself into Michonne's lap after Michonne sat down to elevate her swollen ankles. She giggled at Judith's nickname for her brother.

"Okay, go get a book, and not _that_ one…"

"Pleaseeeee?" Judith asked, spinning around to pout at her mother.

"I've read The Wizard of Oz to you at least 50 times!" Michonne explained, "try a different book."

"But I like _that_ one Mommy. Bump likes it too" Judith said, already blaming things on her brother before he was even born.

"Why do you like that one so much?" Michonne asked, trying to hide her amusement. She knew she'd end up reading the book to Judith again either way.

"Daddy read it to me," Judith said.

Michonne felt her heart drop at Judith's words. She couldn't resist that reasoning. Michonne nodded and tilted her head towards the bookshelf. "Go on," she acquiesced.

Judith turned around to find the book amongst the dozens of others, while Michonne quickly composed herself. She'd never forget their last family fun day, when she and Rick had sat on the steps with Judith while he read her The Wizard of Oz. It had been such a good day, before duty, and responsibility had ended it. She would try to make more of those good days with Judith, and this new baby.

Judith returned with the book and climbed back into Michonne's lap, her little elbow resting on Michonne's large belly.

Taking a breath, Michonne began. "Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife."

She read to Judith for 20 minutes, until the girl was so sleepy her head was crashing into Michonne's shoulder every few seconds.

"It's time for bed Judy Pie," Michonne whispered into Judith's ear.

"I'm not sleepy," Judith said with a yawn.

"C'mon baby. It's time to sleep," Michonne said sternly closing the book.

Judith yawned again and didn't protest.

"Do you think you can go to bed by yourself?" Michonne asked. She had been trying to make the girl slightly more independent in anticipation of the baby that was on the way. Michonne knew she'd need Judith to help her sometimes, and she was trying to find the balance between Judith learning life skills at a young age, and still being allowed to be a child.

Judith nodded sleepily.

"Okay. Go put on your pajamas and get in bed and I'll be upstairs in a few minutes to tuck you in. Okay sweetheart?"

"Okay. Goodnight Mommy. Goodnight Bump," Judith said, leaning down and planting a kiss on Michonne's belly. At Judith's voice the baby began to kick wildly.

"You feel that?" Michonne asked, pressing Judith's hand to her abdomen. Judith nodded wildly.

"Your brother says goodnight too."

 _One year after the bridge._

He looked like his father. Their baby, their son. She saw Rick in his eyes. Hazel, with flecks of blue, green, and an amber brown. She saw Rick in the brief flashes of smiles he gave her in the morning when he first woke. She was pretty sure it was gas that made his lips turn up like that, but he looked so much like his Daddy that she pretended he was smiling just for her.

When she held their son, she felt Rick with her. She still held on to the hope that he was alive. Somewhere. But she kept that hope in her heart, away from the skeptical opinions of others. It didn't matter though, because she knew for sure that their son, Jude Richard Grimes was alive.

Michonne let Judith name him. She'd wanted to keep the name Bump. Jude was her second choice.

Michonne thought it was fitting. Carl has named Judith, and Judith had named Jude based on the name Carl had given her. It was as if Carl had inadvertently named his little brother as well.

Judith was in love with the baby and helped Michonne however she could. The rest of the family helped as well. Michonne had no idea how much work went into caring for two children alone, and she welcomed the assistance. Her days were filled with nonstop deadlines.

Wake up, change and feed Jude, get Judith dressed, take Judith to school, change and feed Jude, look over and amend the plans for new housing, change and feed Jude, clean the house, check the security report, pick up Judith from school, change and feed Jude, make dinner, help Judith with homework, have family time reading or playing a game, put Judith to bed, put Jude to bed, and then she was alone with her thoughts.

Her perpetual sadness would creep in even after a good day, because it was one more good day that Rick never got to see.

 _Two years after the bridge._

Every day he looked and acted more and more like Rick. Michonne bent over to hold one of his pudgy hands, as Judith grabbed another. Together they guided him across the living room floor, his wobbly legs shaking, but holding strong. They were bowled just like his Daddy.

"C'mon Jude. You do it yourself this time," Judith encouraged, letting go of her brother's hand suddenly. Thrown off balance he plopped to the ground, his diaper cushioning the fall.

Michonne was on the verge of chastising Judith, but Jude let out a hearty laugh, unfazed by his fall.

"Mommy when is he gonna walk?" Judith asked impatiently. "I wanna play tag with him."

"Sooner than you think," Michonne said, scooping Jude off the floor and twirling him around. "When he starts walking and getting into your stuff, and your room, you're gonna miss the days like this."

"No. It's gotta be more fun when I can play with my brother" Judith insisted.

"We'll see," Michonne answered skeptically.

"I'm gonna go make us some lunch. Can you bring his playpen over here so I can put him down?" Michonne asked.

Judith stood and turned to get the playpen from the other side of the living room. Jude whined, thinking Judith was leaving. When she was halfway across the room, the small boy crawled towards her for a few seconds, then leaned down and pushed himself off the floor. He stood, teeter tottering on his unsteady legs.

"Judith, look!" Michonne called, and she turned around and watched in wonder as her brother took 3, 4, 5 steps towards her before falling.

"You did it Jude!" Judith said happily, scurrying over to her brother and planting a kiss on his head.

The baby clapped, seemingly very pleased with himself, and Judith and Michonne joined him, showering him with praise.

"Mommy, you think Daddy saw that from heaven?" Judith asked. Her words shot through Michonne like a bullet. Judith hadn't brought up her father being in heaven in years, Michonne thought she'd long forgotten about that.

"Yes I… I think if he's in heaven he saw that and would be so proud of both of you."

Judith nodded, satisfied with her mother's answer, and continued to drag the playpen closer.

 _Five years after the bridge._

When Michonne had time, she'd stop by Carl's gravestone. Sometimes she'd leave something for him, other times she'd sit and tell him what was going on. She'd keep him updated on his siblings, or new projects that were going on in Alexandria, or anything plaguing her mind. And sometimes she'd talk to him about Rick. She'd tell Carl that she'd never given up on the hope he was still alive. She'd never truly believed that he'd died, even five years later. She talked to Carl about it because she couldn't tell anyone else without their pity or looks of surprise.

Some days she'd bring Jude and Judith with her. She wouldn't make them participate, she'd allow them to play in the cemetery's grass while she visited with her oldest son.

Sometimes it got hard, and she'd feel overwhelmed with motherhood, and leadership, and everyone else's problems. Sometimes she'd get angry with Rick for being so selfless, so sacrificing, that he selfishly left her for all these years. She'd cry alone at night, begging, pleading for the one man she'd ever loved with all of her being to come home. She'd feel isolated in the fact that she was still grieving after all this time, all these years. But her family brought her back from the brink, again and again. She had to do this, if not for herself than for her children.

Judith, at nine years old, started gun safety and training lessons. She was already skilled with the slingshot and the katana, so the gun was another necessary weapon to add to her belt.

Michonne had second guessed herself many times about when it was too early for Judith to learn, but she weighed her options and realized not knowing how to use a gun was deadly, so on her ninth birthday, Michonne gifted her with her father's Colt Python.

Judith had turned the gun over and over in her hands, mesmerized by the shiny pistol that had been cleaned and serviced by Michonne for years.

"This belonged to your Daddy," Michonne explained, tears coming to her eyes. "He used it to protect his family many, many times. He would want you to have it, to protect yourself. He'd want you to use it to keep yourself and others safe."

Judith ran her fingers over the brown handle.

"I'm giving this to you, because I think you're old enough to understand what's right, and what's wrong. You're old enough to do the right thing. There's no bullets in it, and you won't get them until you're trained how to use it properly, but this gun is yours now."

Judith looked up at her mother who was now crying. Understanding how much this gift meant to her mother, Judith gave her a hug and thanked her.

Michonne would sit on a tree stump with Jude, holding her hands over his ears, as Jesus trained Judith how to shoot the gun safely. It was strange to Michonne how normal this seemed, almost like watching Judith play on the soccer field. If only.

Jude wanted to join his sister, pointing and saying, "me too Mommy." Michonne simply held her boy to her chest and said with a heavy heart, "one day."

 _11 years after the bridge._

Judith strode into the house with a row of squirrels tied around her neck. She plopped the chain of dead rodents on the kitchen counter.

"Get those dirty squirrels off my counter!" Michonne called from the living room.

"Mom, guess what?" Judith asked, ignoring her mother's yell.

"I'll guess when the squirrels are off my kitchen counter. You know you're supposed to skin them outside Judith."

Judith sighed and hauled the rodents off of the counter, plopping them on the front porch until she could skin them. She loudly clomped back into the kitchen where Michonne had already entered and was wiping the counter down with a cloth.

"The fur could have ticks, fleas, or any other kind of bugs. This isn't the first time I've told you about bringing dead animal furs into the…"

"Mom!" Judith said, cutting Michonne off. "Guess what? I got an apprenticeship!"

"What?" Michonne asked, her cleaning temporarily forgotten.

"Mr. Pasley sent word from the Kingdom that he would let me be his apprentice for horse husbandry!" Judith announced.

"What?" Michonne asked again.

"Can I go? He said I could live with him and his family and I could stay there for two years and learn from him."

"When did you ask him about an apprenticeship?" Michonne questioned. "You never asked me about that."

"Well, I was going to let you know if I got it, and I did," Judith said sheepishly.

"You're not going to live in the Kingdom for two years. You're 14 years old!"

"All the other teenagers are getting apprenticeships. I know I really want to work with horses but I don't know all the skills and Mr. Pasley will teach me that."

"Judith, you're too young to…" Michonne began, but Judith cut her off.

"I can take care of myself mom. I can. Look, I just hunted dinner for us. You taught me how to defend myself and how to get what I need. I really want to go mom. Please?"

"Judith, the Kingdom is a whole other town. We should've discussed this before you even asked Mr. Pasley. It was nice of him to offer, but you're gonna have to tell him you can't do it. Maybe in a few years. You're still in school."

"The Kingdom has a school, and anyway the stuff we're learning isn't really what I need for my future. I don't care who the President of the United States was in 2010. Is that information going to keep me alive when I go on a run? Can I feed myself with that information?"

Michonne sighed in frustration. She had taught her daughter how to speak up for herself, and how to reason. The most frustrating thing about that was that Judith was very good at making a point and sticking to it.

"Judith, I don't want you living somewhere else. You are too young to live away with another family."

"Mom! Look, I know I should've asked you, but I knew this was what you were gonna say. I can do this. You know I can take care of myself. I'll be fine, plus I can learn a trade that I can bring back to Alexandria."

"I know you can take care of yourself but…"

"So what's the problem?" Judith shouted, her face turning red in anger.

Michonne simply stared at Judith and she knew she'd gone too far raising her voice at her mother.

"I'm sorry" Judith quickly apologized, "I just… please Mom. Please? Can you and Jude at least come to the Kingdom and maybe check it out before you say no? Talk to Mr. Pasley, maybe he can convince you I'll be okay. Please, just don't say no. I've been wanting to do this for a long time."

Michonne studied her daughter. She'd grown so much since they'd lost her father. Her long blond hair was styled into four braids to keep it out of her face when she hunted. She'd grown tall, almost taller than Michonne, and she was still growing. Her hands were rough from using it to hunt and shoot. She'd grown up in the woods, ever since she'd learned how to defend herself. Michonne had made sure she knew how to handle walkers. She couldn't lose another child to them. Never again.

Michonne had all the confidence that her daughter could hunt and protect herself, but she was still a child, despite all of that. And Michonne couldn't lose her. But, she also had been working all these years for a future for her children, and Judith was trying to embrace that future. Her daughter had a dream, and how could she deny that without even checking it out?

Judith could see the wheels turning in her mother's head, and she took that as encouragement. "Pleaseeee Mommy?" she asked.

Judith only called her Mommy when she wanted something.

Michonne sighed. "We'll go to the Kingdom in a few days and I'll talk to Mr. Pasley and check it out. I will see," Michonne said.

Judith let out a squeal and launched herself into Michonne's arms.

"Thank you Mommy! Thank you, Thank you!" she said, planting kisses on Michonne's cheeks.

Michonne couldn't help but smile.

"Just for the record, 'I'll see' is _not_ a yes…", but Judith was already sprinting towards her bedroom, probably to pack.

Jude entered through the open front door.

"Hey mom" he greeted Michonne, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Hi baby, how was school?" she asked, ruffling the tight kinks in his brown hair.

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "It was okay."

"You have homework?" she asked.

"We have a project, to interview someone who remembers life before, and ask them a bunch of questions."

"Oh, that sounds interesting. Did you pick who you want to interview?"

Jude shrugged. "I dunno. I was thinking maybe King Ezekiel the next time he comes to visit here? I heard some kids say he used to have a tiger."

Michonne smiled. "That he did, a beautiful one, her name was Shiva."

Jude's eyes popped open. "It's true? He really did? Oh, I'm definitely interviewing him."

"Well what about me?" Michonne asked, "I remember life before, and I had a pretty interesting job."

"Uh, no thanks Mom," Jude said with a smirk, and Michonne jokingly elbowed him.

"Fine, wise guy." His sense of humor often reminded her of Carl.

"You might get your chance to interview Ezekiel soon. We're gonna be visiting the Kingdom in a few days. Judith might have an apprenticeship there."

"Really?" Jude asked mischievously. "Does that mean I get to miss school?"

"In the physical sense, yes. But you will be doing work on the road and working on your project while you're there, and I'll ask your teacher if she has any more work for you."

"Mommmm," Jude whined.

"You know the deal buddy," Michonne said, reaching into the cupboard to pull out beans to cook for dinner.

Is that dinner sitting on our front porch?" he asked, pointing at the string of squirrels Judith had left there.

"Yea it is. Can you start gutting and skinning the squirrels? Judith forgot to."

"Fine," Jude mumbled, turning to get the squirrels.

"And not on my front porch!"

"I know Mom," Jude called.

A few days later, Michonne set off on the road in a wagon with her children. Judith was full of nervous energy. She wanted this to work.

They'd been traveling for an hour when Michonne spotted a lone walker up ahead, slowly stumbling down the road. She pulled the wagon to a stop a few hundred feet away, as the walker approached.

"I got it!" Judith said, standing to hop out of the wagon. She wanted to make sure her mother knew how independent she was, in case she had any doubts.

"No," Michonne said, gesturing to her daughter, "Let me do this."

She hadn't killed a walker in a while. Ever since she stopped leaving in the middle of the night to hunt them, walker sightings were becoming less and less frequent. That's why she was okay with Judith going out to hunt by herself.

There were many patrols that scoured the roads to eliminate walkers, and she was curious as to how this one had gotten past them.

Michonne reached underneath the seat of the wagon and pulled out her katana. She hopped out the seat of the cart and approached the walker as her children watched.

It kept on its path, stumbling towards her, but curiously she didn't hear any growls coming from it. Its hair was long and stringy, and mostly covered its face, and its clothing was torn and frayed in many places. It looked like it'd been walking for a long time. She looked down at its feet, and her world stopped.

It was wearing brown boots with large holes in the sides. They were completely worn through and were falling apart, but she'd recognize those boots anywhere. They were cowboy boots.

Michonne gasped and took a few steps backwards. She felt weak, and almost fainted when the walker stopped in its tracks in front of her.

She was barely breathing, and still staring at the boots, afraid to look up at its face.

Judith, who was watching this scene from the wagon was alarmed when Michonne seemed to have frozen in front of the walker. She was even more confused when the walker seemed to have frozen in front of Michonne.

Michonne felt woozy from her lack of oxygen. She wasn't breathing. She couldn't move. Those were Rick's boots. On a walker. How did they get on a walker?

She couldn't look up. She couldn't see it. It was too much. After all this time it was too much.

Her katana clattered to the ground.

"Mom!" Judith called, leaping off the wagon, Jude right behind her. Judith was confused by the behavior of the walker who didn't make a move towards Michonne who was obviously in shock.

Michonne could see black spots in front of her eyes. She still couldn't move her body, she couldn't breathe. She was paralyzed. But using the last of her strength, she dragged her eyes up to the walker's face, and saw one blue eye peering at her from behind the hair.

A gravelly voice, not much different from a walker's, growled out.

"Michonne… I found you."

It was too much. This was too much. Unable to breathe, Michonne collapsed to the ground.

Judith ran at the walker in a panic, and before any words could be exchanged, she pulled the Colt Python from its holster and squeezed the trigger.

A bang echoed through the forest.

 _To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

"It's bleeding! It's bleeding!" Jude was screaming, pointing at the bright red blood soaking through the walker's arm.

"Oh my God it's alive!" Judith gasped, grabbing hold of her mother's arm and trying to pull her away from the bleeding man who was groaning in front of them. "Help me pull her back to the wagon!" she directed her brother.

"Found you…" the man whispered incoherently from the ground, grasping at his bleeding arm. Judith's bullet had grazed him. A few more inches higher and she might have hit him in the head.

Judith and Jude dragged their unresponsive mother backwards. Judith grabbed Michonne underneath her arms, and Jude took her feet, and together they hauled her up inside of the wagon.

"Is she okay? What do we do?" Jude asked his sister.

"I… I don't know!" Judith admitted, looking at the man who was still clutching his arm but lying still on the ground with his eyes closed.

"Is he dead?" Jude asked.

"No, I thought he was a walker, but he's bleeding. Walkers don't bleed."

"No, I mean is he dead now?" Jude questioned. Judith looked back at the man who seemingly passed out as well.

"Just great," Judith muttered under her breath.

"Do we leave him here?" Jude asked. "Should we? What are we supposed to do?"

"You try to wake Mom up," Judith directed, "I'll tie _him_ up."

She reached into the wagon and got a few inches of twine. She approached the man cautiously with her gun drawn. He didn't move an inch. She leaned in slightly just to check that he was still breathing. He was.

Quickly, she wrapped his arms around his back and tied his wrists together with the twine. She patted down the pockets of his filthy clothing and found a book of matches, a small knife, a map, and a small smoked fish that had been stuffed into a plastic bag.

"Is she waking up?" Judith called to her brother, who was furiously shaking Michonne.

"No!" Jude yelled, panic starting to set in.

"Come help me!" Judith demanded, "We're taking him too."

"Taking him where?" Jude asked.

"Home," she replied.

It was safer to turn around and take the hour journey back to Alexandria than it was to continue on the two hour journey to the Kingdom.

It had taken a massive effort to get the much larger man into the back of the wagon. They had dropped him beside Michonne, and Jude rode in the back to keep an eye on both of them, while Judith steered the horses home.

Jude began examining the man's meager belongings. He studied the knife that was old and rusted and looked like it had been scavenged from an abandoned house. He then unfolded the map. Map reading was a skill emphasized in school, and he quickly searched the map to see what it was a map of.

"He has a map of Washington D.C," Jude yelled to his sister. He then squinted and stared at the map. "Alexandria is on here too. He… he circled it."

"What?" Judith asked, turning around to look at him.

"He circled Alexandria. Like he was trying to go there."

Michonne let out a deep breath, blinked a few times, and opened her eyes. She was staring up at blue sky, but trees were steadily moving past her. She was immediately confused, and it hit her. She'd seen Rick. Or… a walker of Rick.

She shot up from her seated position so quickly Jude leaped out of her way.

"Where… where is he?" Michonne asked, turning her head wildly, looking for Rick. She had to make sure it was him. She didn't trust herself.

"Whoa, calm down Mom," Jude said, placing his hand on her arm. It couldn't be healthy for her to just jump up like that after passing out.

"Where?" she asked, ignoring her son.

"He's right here," Jude said, pointing to Rick who was still unconscious and bleeding, and half covered by a tarp.

Michonne crawled over to Rick, stopping when she got close enough to see his face. His hair had grown long, far past his shoulders, but it didn't look healthy like she remembered, it was stringy and clumped together, and plastered to his face making it hard to see him clearly. She reached out a hand and gently wiped the dirty hair away. The only parts of his face she could clearly see was his forehead, eyes, and nose. His cheeks and chin were completely shrouded by a white mustache and beard that put the beard he'd grown while they'd been on the road to Alexandria to shame.

Jude noticed the tender way that Michonne touched this man, and the mesmerized look on her face. He had never seen Michonne touch a man like that in his life.

"You know him?" Jude asked.

"Mom's awake?" Judith asked from the front of the wagon.

Michonne continued to stare at him, not believing her eyes. It was him, after all these years. He was alive. How was he alive and lying right in front of her? Where did he go? How did he come back? Why did he stay away so long?

"Mom!" Jude called, concerned that his mother didn't seem responsive. He didn't want her to pass out a second time.

"Rick," Michonne said softly, "It's Rick."

"His name is Rick?" Jude asked. "So you do know him?"

"She knows him?" Judith called from the front of the wagon, turning around to see what was going on in the back.

Michonne wiped at the dirt covering his face, revealing pale colored skin. He looked sickly. She pressed her hand to his warm cheeks, and then trailed her fingers up to his forehead which was also warm.

"His name is Rick Grimes," Michonne said, not believing the words coming from her own mouth. "He's your father."

"What?" Jude and Judith said simultaneously. The wagon came to a complete halt.

"This is your father," Michonne repeated, tears coming to her eyes. "He's alive… he… he's alive."

Jude knelt down in front of Rick and leaned in closer. Judith climbed into the back of the wagon and joined the other two.

"Daddy's dead," Judith said in confusion. "He's dead. This can't… He's not Daddy."

"He's alive," Michonne said, her voice breaking. "Oh my God."

She examined the gunshot on Rick's arm. "He's alive but we need to get him help. Judith, you have to run the horses back home. We need to get back there now and get this wound closed."

"You said Daddy was in heaven," Judith continued, her brow wrinkled in confusion. "This can't be Daddy."

"I thought… everyone thought he was dead," Michonne explained, stroking Rick's dirty hair. "He made it somehow. But this is your Daddy."

"How?" Jude asked.

"I don't know, but we need to get him back home now. Please Judith, we have to go," Michonne said. Her eyes pleading with Judith to get the wagon started.

Judith stared at the man for a few more seconds before turning and urging the horses forwards at a gallop.

Jude knelt down next to Michonne and stared at the man's face.

"This is my Dad?" he asked in disbelief. It was hard to tell if he and the stranger resembled each other at all. All Jude could really see was the beard that was covering half of his face.

Michonne held the man's hand and stroked his dirty fingers gently. He looked so frail and fragile, yet he seemed to have come from so far away. Knowing Rick, it might have been miles upon miles.

"This is your Dad," Michonne repeated, shaking her head as tears flowed from her eyes. "This is your Dad."

Once in the gates of Alexandria, they headed straight to the infirmary in a panic. When Michonne revealed who was in the back of their wagon, there was a few seconds of silence before all hell broke loose.

"Rick? Is that Rick?"

"Where was he?"

"Michonne where did you find him?"

"He's dead!"

"Help him!" Michonne screamed at them, she, Judith, and Jude already taking position to slide him out the wagon.

Hearing Michonne's stern and desperate tone, others joined in, helping to carry him into the infirmary and placing him on a bed.

"Wait here," Michonne said to her children, before entering the room where Siddiq was desperately trying to remove Rick's dirty clothing.

Michonne could tell Siddiq was as shocked as everyone else, but the sternness on Michonne's face let him know that now was not the time to ask questions.

He quickly cleaned and bandaged Rick's gunshot wound before peeling off the rest of his clothing with Michonne's help. Michonne gasped at the sight of the many bruises, lesions, and wounds that littered his skin. Siddiq took a quick inventory of Rick's ravaged body.

"He's got ticks," Siddiq said, "I'm gonna remove those carefully so it doesn't get infected. I'm not sure what these scars are from, but he's got them all over his arms and legs. This one," Siddiq said, pointing to a large wound, "continues out through his back. I think something actually went through him, and looking at the way it's healed so neatly, he's definitely had professional medical attention. It's been stitched."

Michonne's eyes widened at the news that Rick might've seen a doctor. Maybe even been to a hospital. That would explain how he was still alive, but how did he get there?

"Right before the bridge blew up, he was holding his side. There was blood everywhere. I think this wound is from what injured him."

Siddiq nodded. "Maybe something metallic, or even a tree branch could've done this."

He lifted one of Rick's arms and turned it palm up. On his forearm there was a rectangular wound where the skin was a different color than the skin around it.

"This is from a skin scrape," Siddiq said, studying the scar. "They actually removed a layer of skin from this area, that's why it's a different color. Once again, professionally done."

"You think he went to a hospital?" Michonne asked.

"Maybe, or a doctor who still had sterile medical supplies found him. These black and blue bruises along his arms, fingers, and legs are from Intravenous lines. He was hooked up to IVs many times and for long periods of time. When they blew out a vein they had to stick him again."

"Oh my God," Michonne whispered, placing her hand to her mouth.

"I'm sorry to upset you Michonne, but it looks like he's had some serious medical procedures done to him. Like someone used him as a pin-cushion. I need to know what was done and why in order to help him."

Michonne touched Rick's hand, and then gently squeezed it. "When he was in the cart he felt warm on his cheeks and forehead. I think he might…," Michonne took a deep breath to swallow down the horror she felt rising inside of her.

"I think he might have a fever. Can you… can you check it?"

Siddiq nodded and placed a thermometer into Rick's mouth. While they waited, Siddiq continued his examination of Rick's body, checking for bites.

Michonne watched with bated breath as Siddiq searched for a possible source of Rick's warmness. After a few minutes he removed the thermometer.

"100 degrees. He does have a low-grade fever, but I don't see any signs of recent scratches or bites. What has me worried is the ticks. Fever could be a sign of Lyme disease, or some other internal infection. It seems like the man's been in the woods for a long time, God knows what he could've picked up."

"Is he… is he going to die?" she asked.

"He's lost a lot of blood from that gunshot wound. He was already weak and malnourished before he got shot, and I'm not sure how he's gonna do with blood loss too. I want to be hopeful, but it's a possibility."

Michonne felt weak again. Trying not to pass out a second time, she felt for a chair situated next to the hospital bed, and sat down in it.

Siddiq, still mesmerized himself by the idea of a man who'd been presumed dead for 11 years suddenly arriving at his hospital, missed Michonne's reaction.

"What happened? How did you… where did you find him?"

"He was just… walking down the road. I thought he was a walker. When I saw his shoes I just… I froze, I fainted, and Judith… she was protecting me. She shot him. Thank God she didn't kill him. Please tell me he'll wake up."

"I think he passed out from pain and exhaustion. His body has been through so much, that gun wound even though it was just a graze was the straw that broke the camel's back. He needs rest and nutrients. I'm hoping with that he'll come around. I bet he has a hell of a story to tell."

Michonne nodded at Siddiq but her eyes never left Rick's. She was afraid that if she stepped away from him for just a second he'd disappear again.

"Did he say anything? When you found him? Did you get to talk to him before he got shot?" Siddiq asked.

"He just said… I found you," Michonne repeated.

Siddiq noticed Michonne's inability to take her eyes off of Rick's face.

"I um… I'm gonna let you be alone with him for a while. What do you want me to tell the kids?" Siddiq asked.

Michonne, still entranced with Rick, said "tell them their Daddy will be okay, and I'll come get them in a minute."

"Michonne, if I was betting on someone surviving, it'd always be Rick," Siddiq added before backing out of the room.

Michonne brought Rick's hand over to her mouth and placed a soft kiss on the back of it, closing her eyes and appreciating the fact that she was actually flesh to flesh with him again.

He looked so battered, he'd lost so much weight, and she still couldn't see his face completely through the hair, but he'd come back. After all these years he'd come back to her.

Michonne let out a sob and stood so her face was directly over Rick's.

"Rick," she croaked, stroking his face. "Rick can you hear me? You made it back home, don't you dare die now. You hear me? Don't you dare. Wake up!"

Rick's whole body jolted awake suddenly, startling Michonne. His eyes were wild in fear, and on pure instinct he grabbed her wrist that was holding his hand. His grip was so strong he was hurting her.

"Rick!" Michonne gasped, pulling her wrist from his grip.

As soon as his eyes focused on her, his face relaxed and his breathing slowed. Tears welled up in his eyes and a sob escaped from him.

"Michonne," he whispered.

"Rick?" she asked, touching his hand again now that he'd calmed down.

His fingers wrapped around hers.

"Michonne," he said again, "I found you. I did. I did it."

He began to cry, shaking his head from side to side in disbelief.

"I tried to get away, I tried every day to come back to you. I had to let you know I didn't mean to go. I didn't want to go. I tried… I tried every day."

He began to sob hysterically, clinging to her hand, rubbing his face and beard against the back of it.

He pulled her closer so that he could reach her.

"I found you. I found you," he whispered, and Michonne was sobbing now too.

"I never thought you were dead," she cried, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "I know I was supposed to, I let people think that I did, but I never believed it. But I didn't understand what could've happened. I didn't know how you could be away for so long. After the explosion I... I'm sorry Rick, I'm so sorry. I should've looked harder."

"No," he said, grabbing her cheeks and pulling her face in front of his. "No, I'm sorry. You couldn't have found me, I was so far away. They took me so far away on a helicopter, I couldn't stop it. They wouldn't let me come back."

"A helicopter?" Michonne asked, amazed. "Who took you Rick? Why?"

"I… I'll talk about that later," Rick said. "Are you okay? Is Judith? Where… where's Judith?"

Michonne smiled. "She's outside waiting to come in. She's the one that shot you."

"That… that was Judith?" Rick asked in total shock.

"It was," Michonne said. "She thought you were a walker. She was trying to protect me. With _your_ gun."

"Judith…" Rick said, tears coming to his eyes. "My baby girl shot me? She has good aim," Rick said with a smile.

"Actually, she missed. She was aiming for your head," Michonne explained.

"There was a boy there too," Rick said.

"Jude. Our son… he can't wait to meet you…"

"You had a son?" Rick interrupted. He looked slightly shocked. "I should've known… I knew eleven years was too long… I… I'm so happy for you Michonne. You deserve that."

Michonne squeezed Rick's hand tighter to get his attention.

"I said he's _our_ son. He's _your_ son, Rick."

Rick froze. "How is that possible?"

"I was pregnant with him when you left. I found out a month after… everything. You have a son, Rick."

Rick stared at Michonne with an unreadable expression.

"His name is Jude Richard Grimes. Judith named him. He's 11 years old."

Rick blinked back tears and looked away for a moment.

"I have a son?" he asked, still in disbelief.

"You do," Michonne confirmed. "Would you like to see your children?"

"Yes," Rick said, with a nod of his head. "Yes, I would. But… not like this. Let me clean up first. Let me bathe and shave. I don't want them to think their Daddy is a wild man."

Michonne smiled and nodded. "Okay. Let me help you."

***can08writer***

Rick shaved and washed the dirt from his hair and skin with Michonne and Siddiq's help. Michonne was captivated as Rick shaved. When he removed what looked like years worth of hair growth from his face, underneath was the same handsome man she'd known from 11 years ago. He'd aged, and so had she, but it was startling how much he looked like himself. She had to stop herself from reaching out and running her fingers down his smooth face. Siddiq had tried to ask him all kinds of questions, but Rick refused to answer until after he met his children.

Rick was propped up on a few pillows as he was still weak, and he turned to look as Judith entered the room with her mother at her side.

The smile on his face was radiant when he saw her for the first time in 11 years.

"My God," he said softly.

Judith looked at him nervously.

"You've grown up so much," Rick said, shaking his head. "You're such a beautiful young lady."

Judith looked at Michonne and then back at Rick.

"I'm sorry for shooting you," she offered.

Rick laughed.

"It's not the first time I've been shot, and it probably won't be the last."

Judith smiled, and Rick could see Lori in her smile.

"I know this is…"

"Awkward?" Judith volunteered.

"I was goin' for difficult, but awkward probably fits in there too. I remember exactly what you looked like the last time I saw you, and now here you are, almost an adult. I am so sorry I missed so much of your life Judith."

Rick wiped away a tear. "There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about you. That I didn't want to come back to you. I love you so much. I've loved you since the first time I held you. I just want you to know that."

Judith looked at Michonne again, and then took a step forward. "I don't really remember what you looked like," she said, "but I remember some things. I remember how you made me feel. I remember crawling on the floor and racing you in the hallway of our house. I remember being happy when you picked me up and swung me around, and I remember you reading 'The Wizard of Oz' to me. That's still my favorite book to this day."

"You remember that?" Rick asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I do. Those are the good times I remember. I also remember Mom crying over you at night, and people talking about you being dead. Adults would talk about you when they thought I wasn't listening, but I was. You said you didn't want to leave us, but you owe us a damn good explanation of where you were."

Judith shook her head in anger. "Mom, she didn't deserve to be alone all this time."

Rick opened his mouth and then closed it. "You're right, she didn't. And I'm so sorry to both of you. I swear to you Judith, if I could've come back I would have. You and your Mama were always my first priority."

Judith nodded and crossed her arms. "And Jude, he's wanted a Dad since forever. He's always been told that his Dad is dead. I don't need a Dad anymore, but he does. If you should be apologizing to anyone it should be Mom and Jude."

"Judith I… you're right, everything you said is right, but I _just_ found out about Jude. I'm gonna talk to him too, I can't wait to meet him."

"Well that's who you should focus on. Nice to meet you Dad, but I don't need you."

"Judith!" Michonne said, shocked.

"Can I go now?" Judith asked Michonne.

"No. Apologize."

"She… she doesn't have to if that's how she feels…" Rick said.

"Yes she does. That is not how you speak to your father," Michonne said.

"Sorry. Can I go now?" Judith asked Michonne.

Michonne looked at Rick and then back to Judith. "Go," she said.

"Jude! Come talk to your Dad," Judith called to her brother as she left the room.

Michonne moved closer to Rick's bed. "I'm sorry, she's not usually like that."

"It's okay," Rick said with a small smile. "I like her, she reminds me of Carl."

Michonne chuckled. "Yea, actually, she does."

Jude walked into the room and stopped at the threshold, unsure about coming in.

"Come on in," Michonne encouraged him, "he won't bite."

Rick stared at his son in wonder. His skin was a caramel brown color. He had hair that made tight curls on the top of his head, and his eyes were beautiful hazel color. Rick couldn't help but notice how much he resembled Carl. He smiled when the boy came over and held out his hand for Rick to shake.

"Hi. I'm Jude," he said.

Rick smiled and shook the boy's hand.

"Hi Jude, I'm your Dad, Rick."

Jude studied Rick's face. "You look much better without all that hair on your face."

Rick laughed. Both of his kids definitely had a sense of humor. They must've gotten it from Michonne.

"Yea, I've been traveling for a long time. There was nowhere for me to shave."

Jude continued to stare at Rick but didn't say anything more.

"Jude. I know this must be hard for you. When I got hurt, when I got taken, I didn't know you existed. Neither did your Mama. I know you don't know me, but I would never leave your Mama and your sister willingly. You gotta know that Jude. I thought about them every day. They got me through it all. They're the reason I came back. I traveled across states to come back here. And if I knew you existed, I would've fought even harder. You're my boy. You're so beautiful. You've got your mama's eyes. You look just like your brother too, Carl."

"People say I look like you. My nose."

Rick smiled. "Yea well, I'm sorry about that."

Rick and Jude both snickered.

"This is weird."

"How so?" Rick asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I've never had a Dad before."

Rick made a sound that was a mix between a chuckle and a sob. Tears came to his eyes and he didn't bother to wipe them away.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry son, that you had to grow up without a Dad. I should've been there. God I wish I was. I wished I was every day. I should've been there for you and your sister and your Mama. I fought hard to come back as soon as I could."

"Where were you?"

Rick's eyes got dark and he wiped the tears from them. "I… I've gotta talk to your Mama about that first, okay? I can't tell you right now, but I will, okay? And I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna be here for you for now on. I promise you that Jude. Okay son?"

Jude looked into Rick's eyes, assessing if he believed this man who was basically a stranger. He seemed sincere.

"Okay… Dad?" Jude asked, as if trying the word on for size.

Rick smiled and another tear ran down his face.

"Yea, Dad. You can call me that whenever you want."

Jude nodded and turned to leave.

"Hey, can I… do you mind if I give you a hug?" Rick asked.

Jude came back over to Rick's bedside and reached out to his father. Rick wrapped his arms around his son for the first time, pulling him close. An unbelievable warmth flowed through Rick's body. He was still in shock that he had a biological child, but a wave of dread ran through him.

Jude was in danger.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: This chapter is pretty short. Hope you like it!**

After speaking to the kids, making sure they were alright, and sending them home, Michonne entered the room softly. She had always been light on her feet, and time hadn't changed that. Rick watched her, still incredulous that the woman he'd fantasized about every day for years was now standing in front of him. He was exhausted from the day's events, still in pain from his gunshot wound, and weak from his malnutrition and time on the road, but still he snapped to attention when he saw her face.

She stared at Rick nervously as well from the doorway. Now that the moment she'd prayed for, for over a decade had arrived, she didn't know what to do, what to say. She was finally here with him. Alone. And she realized that her husband may not be the same man she remembered. Horrific things had been done to him. He'd changed, and so had she.

"Are they okay? Being home by themselves?" Rick asked.

"Yes, they're fine Rick," Michonne replied with a slight laugh. He had no idea of the times she'd left them home alone for days out of necessity. When she had to leave to protect Alexandria against a herd, or secure a new food source for the community, and she had no partner to watch her children while she was gone.

Judith was very capable, and she had been since she was young, but Jude was also self-sufficient. He and his sister hunted together at times, and Jude was just as proficient with guns as Judith was at his same age, although Jude didn't carry one.

Michonne approached Rick and sat down at the side of his bed, glancing at the makeshift IV that was slowly hydrating him again. Her body lightly rested against his, and he could sense a hesitation from her, almost as if she were unsure of how to interact with him.

Rick reached for Michonne's waist and pulled her down on top of him, so her head was resting against his chest.

"I'm gonna hurt your arm more…" she began to protest, but he wouldn't hear it.

"I don't care," he stated, squeezing her tighter, "I wanna hold you."

Michonne blinked rapidly, and before she could stop it burst into tears, startling herself. She buried her face into Rick's chest, smelling him, feeling him, melting into his embrace. It had been so long since someone had held her. She didn't realize how much she'd missed a physical connection until she got it back.

Rick buried his face into the top of her hair. It smelled just how he'd remembered, she must've still been making her homemade sweet-smelling concoctions to keep her hair and skin hydrated. He pressed his nose into her scalp, taking a deep whiff. Closing his eyes, he savored this moment. Michonne was finally in his arms.

"Honey, I know it must've been so hard for you, not knowing what happened to me. Raising our children alone," Rick murmured into her hair.

"It was," she choked out, lifting her teary eyes up to meet his.

"I know," he said, pressing his lips against her forehead. He used his uninjured hand to wipe away some of her tears.

"You deserve to know where I was. After I blew up the bridge, I fell into the river and got washed downstream."

"I knew it!" Michonne said torturously. "I tried to find you there Rick. The search teams looked up and down that river for weeks!"

"They wouldn't've found me," Rick said softly, trying to ease her mind.

"Jadis had been in contact with another group. She had been trading people to them for a long time. She found me, injured, dying, and she got this other group to pick me up in a helicopter and take me far away."

" _Jadis_ was part of this?" Michonne asked in disbelief, "she disappeared when you did, but we never knew why and if it was connected."

"She saved me… but she used me as well," Rick said. "She traded me to them in return for them taking her too."

"That bitch," Michonne growled. "Where did they take you?"

"A ship. An aircraft carrier off the coast of Cape May New Jersey."

"New Jersey!?" Michonne asked.

"She knew that they could save me, so she brought me to them, but she knew I'd probably never come back."

"Rick, why did they take you? What did they do to you?"

Rick closed his eyes in an attempt to shut out the memories of his long years at the mercy of his captors. He'd been trying to forget about his ordeal over the long months he'd been on the road, but he still rehashed it repeatedly in his head, and in his dreams.

"At first I didn't understand what they wanted. I thought I was in a hospital and they were helping me. They treated my wound. I got impaled on rebar."

"Rick," Michonne gasped.

"When I blew up that bridge, I thought I was going to die, and I accepted that if it meant saving you, and Alexandria, and all the other communities. I was ready. But then they took me. I was confused at first, but I was grateful. I wanted to get better so I could go home. I'm not sure how long I was with them until I started to get suspicious. I think I was pretty out of it in the beginning. I'd lost a lot of blood. Whenever I'd ask where I was, or when I could leave, they wouldn't answer the question. When I was healed enough to walk, I demanded that they let me go, but they continued to run tests on me that I didn't understand. CAT scans, X-rays, blood tests…"

Rick shook his head.

"I started to get angry when I realized they wouldn't let me go. During my third blood test in a matter of days, I took a doctor hostage and demanded to know what was going on. They stabbed me with a needle. I woke up strapped to the bed this time. They asked me questions about my medical history, my parents, if I had siblings, what illnesses I had as a child… they wanted to know anything they could about me. I refused to talk. I refused to eat. I took control however I could. I escaped my restraints 3 times before they realized I wouldn't cooperate until they told me what was going on."

Michonne stared up at Rick from her spot against his chest, captivated by this story that she had waited 11 years to hear.

"They said they needed me. That I was special and had something in my genetics that they'd never seen before. They said they didn't know why, but my body could suppress the walker virus. I was infected like everyone else, but my immune system inactivated it."

Michonne's eyes widened in shock. "Like, you're immune?" she asked.

"The way they explained it, they said I have a genetic mutation that makes the virus unable to infect my cells. I was exposed to it somehow, like everyone else who was alive 15 years ago, but it's helpless inside of me."

Michonne's mouth dropped open.

"What… what does that mean Rick? Does that mean you won't turn? Does that mean a bite won't kill you?"

"They did things to me, to test that. They were trying to use my blood to make a vaccine. They told me _that_ much because they wanted me to stop fighting them and be their willing lab rat. I told them I'd cooperate from my home. If they wanted to run tests and make a vaccine I was okay with that, but they'd have to do all that from Alexandria. They said they had to keep me on that ship where there were doctors to monitor me, and that my home was not civilized enough for them to move the lab there. It was then that I knew they'd never let me go back. They'd test me over and over until they understood this disease, and how my body was able to resist it. When I finally realized that they'd never let me come home, I fought them harder. They sedated me for weeks at a time, maybe months. I'd wake up groggy, in pain, they'd take my vitals, check to make sure I didn't have permanent damage, and they'd ask me to cooperate. When I didn't, they'd put me under and do some other operation or test. I've had more surgeries than I can keep track of. Been hooked up to all sorts of things…", Rick choked up and his eyes turned red and watery.

"Oh my God, Rick, I'm so sorry" Michonne said, shaking her head in disbelief. His story was amazing, but it was worse than she could've imagined. She gently stroked his chest and pressed a kiss against his skin.

"They took bone marrow from me multiple times over the years. They'd take a needle, and stick it into my femur. When they couldn't take anymore from that bone they'd take it from my hip. I'm pretty sure they took some of my liver, and they took so much blood from me I'm sure they have enough to create another person." Rick sniffled, and used his good arm to wipe tears from his eye.

"I don't know how much Jadis told them about me. I think maybe she didn't tell them about you, or Judith, to protect you. I didn't see her much. She came once or twice in the beginning to make sure I was alive, and to say she was sorry but it was the only way to save me. When I realized the scope of what she'd done I hated her. I hated her for so long. I wished she'd let me die. Some days I was so weak, but I'd never agree to cooperate with them. Eventually they just stopped asking. To keep my strength up, they'd restrain me, and make me walk around the ship, to stop me from getting blood clots and getting too weak from lack of exercise. That's how I learned I was on an aircraft carrier."

"Was the whole ship devoted to experimenting on people?" Michonne asked.

"There were others there they were doing experiments on, but there were also people there just living their lives. I think they were aware of what was going on, but they just didn't care. I saw children and civilians. They would just stare at me as the doctors paraded me through, like it was normal for them. Like I wasn't a human being."

"From what information I gathered, since I'm infected, once I'm dead, I'll turn like everyone else. Whatever is keeping the virus at bay while I'm alive, won't be there anymore, and it'll be able to infect my dead and dying cells. But, if a live version gets into me, like I get bit by a walker, I won't turn."

"How do you know all this?" Michonne asked, shaking her head in amazement.

"Because they injected me with walker blood and saliva."

"What?!" Michonne gasped, sitting straight up and untangling herself from him.

"They injected it into me. I got a fever, I got all the symptoms of a walker bite. I thought I was dying. But the next day I was still alive, and the day after that, and the one after that. The symptoms got as bad as the flu, but I didn't die. The fever never completely went away though. I'm always hot, I always have a low grade fever from the active virus still trying to infect me, but I'm alive, Michonne. After everything they did to me, they would've kept me forever… but I got away. I got home to you."

"Rick, that's amazing. You're… you're the cure. You're immune to a bite." Michonne shook her head and stared down at Rick's face, unable to fully comprehend everything he just told her. "How did you get away from them?"

"There are things I had to do… things I'm not proud of. But I had to do it. I had to, Michonne. I got so low I tried taking my own life a few times, just so they couldn't use me anymore. So they couldn't hurt me. They went back to sedating me for my own safety, they said. Months would go by, and I'd be in and out of a drug induced stupor. And then I had an opportunity to get away, and I took it."

"What was it?"

Rick's face turned red and he looked away from her.

"Rick?"

"I'll… I'll tell you Michonne. I will. But can we wait? Can we not talk about it now? Not today. Not… not now."

Michonne studied the pure discomfort on Rick's face. She'd never seen him look that way. He couldn't even look at her. Michonne sat up straighter so she could see Rick better. His eyes were red around the edges, and glistened in the light.

Michonne placed her hands on either side of Rick's face and held his head still, forcing him to look at her. She leaned in closer, their noses inches apart.

"It's okay," Michonne whispered. "It's okay. You don't have to…", but her sentence was interrupted by Rick's lips pressing against hers.

His kiss was fast and desperate. He was clambering for her kiss, his tongue probing her mouth, sucking and drinking her in as if she were a fountain. He had never kissed her like that before. He seemed to be trying to block out whatever memories had just come to his mind, and equally desperate for his kiss, she allowed him to use her as a distraction. Eleven years of longing, hope, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and despair was released into their kiss, both of them trying to suppress the horrific memories.

Rick pulled away from Michonne, and his lips trembled as he spoke.

"Everything I did, through all the years, everything was to get home to you and Judith," Rick explained, still looking into Michonne's eyes as a tear ran down his left cheek.

"After I got off that hell ship, they were still looking for me. They almost caught me a few more times. I ran into people, some good, some not. There were so many obstacles I faced, but I thought maybe once I got back it would finally be over. But it's not over. Now that I know about Jude…"

Rick squeezed Michonne's arm and she could hear the dark tone in his voice.

"Now that I know I have a son, I know this is not over. I have to finish them. He will never be safe from them. The people who did this to me, they will find Jude. They'll do what they did to me, to him."

"What?" Michonne asked, shocked to hear their son was in danger.

"They can find him," Rick stated, his eyes widening as he imagined that fate for his son.

"They can, Michonne. They have a helicopter, and weapons. If they got wind that I made it back here, or I have a child, they can come here and take blood tests of this whole town against their will to find him. And Jude… he's more valuable than I am. If I have this mutation, he probably does too, and he's not infected."

"What?" Michonne asked again, "what do you mean…"

"Children conceived long after the first event, after whatever infected us all, they're no longer infected. They wanted to use my mutation as a vaccine for the children, to make them immune from infection. I'm not sure if Judith is infected, she may be, because she was conceived so soon after all this started. But Jude… he's almost certainly virus free. And if he has the same mutation I have, not only isn't he infected, but he _can't_ be infected. Michonne, if they ever found him… they'd do worse to him than they did to me. He's a pure sample, it's what they've been looking for. I overheard them talking about trying to extract the virus out of my blood since I've already been exposed. But Jude, he was born virus free. _I'm_ not the cure Michonne, Jude is."

Michonne felt like the air had been sucked from her lungs. Her relief of having Rick home with her was unbelievably short lived. There were people after Rick, and they'd come after her son and daughter too if they knew about them. All of a sudden her entire family was in danger. She sighed slightly, terrified to hear his answer to her next question.

"How do we stop this?" she asked, her breath coming out in shallow puffs, anxiety threatening to crush her.

Rick's eyes narrowed in determination. After all he'd been through, after the way he'd suffered to get back here, he'd do anything in his power to keep his newly found family safe. It was his presence that was a threat to them, and he wouldn't rest until that threat no longer existed.

"We have to destroy them."

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	4. Chapter 4

Rick was bombarded with visitors to his room in the infirmary. Everyone who remembered his apparent death wanted to see him, touch him, hear his story. It was exhausting and overwhelming for him. He wasn't ready for the attention. Not yet. A protective Michonne had to put her foot down and refuse visitors for a while, just so Rick could catch his breath.

But some visitors like Daryl and Maggie were allowed through the Michonne blockade. Rick was excited to see his former family and learn how much they'd changed, and grown over 11 years. He was excited to hear Maggie had had another child, a daughter, with one of the men from Hilltop. Daryl was still single, but lived happily with his dog, aptly named "Dog". He was also saddened to hear who had been lost over the years.

Tara, Rosita, Jesus, Jerry, and Carol had all died during his absence.

Rick had told them about his abduction to the aircraft carrier, and the testing that was done on him. He explained what he'd learned about his mutation, and why they'd kept him from leaving for so long. But most importantly, he'd emphasized that no one in Alexandria was safe until the people on that aircraft carrier were prevented from coming to the town and taking anything or anyone they wanted.

Michonne had explained to Rick that she was wasn't in charge of Alexandria anymore. Not in the way Rick had been when he'd left. Decisions were left up to a council now, although she was on it, and if they would get any help in protecting Alexandria and mainly Jude and Judith from these people, they'd have to convince the council of the seriousness of the situation.

Michonne explained that the council wouldn't be in session until the next week, as three of its members were visiting other communities and wouldn't be back until then.

Reluctantly, Rick agreed to wait and try to relax before talking to the council about starting what would probably lead to another war for the growing town.

A few days after arriving in Alexandria, Saddiq gave the okay for Rick to return to his former home. He was still very weak, and was on the verge of starvation when he'd arrived. Before he was found he had been rationing the one small fish he'd had. He was trying to make the scrawny thing last for the week, so he'd been eating two small pinches of fish a day. Seeing as though he was burning hundreds of calories walking long miles, the food was not sufficient for life, and his body had gotten to the point where he'd burned through much of his muscle mass. Siddiq had put him on a liquid diet, since any real meals would cause him to violently retch. Soup was on the menu until Rick's sensitive stomach was able to keep down more solid food.

For Michonne, it was a process getting used to Rick being around again. It was both miraculous and heart breaking. Michonne could see the toll his life away from them had on his personality. He was no longer the sweet country bumpkin he'd once allowed himself to be when the two of them were alone. Often, if she walked in on him when he didn't expect it, he was staring into space, lost in his thoughts. She could tell some things were weighing on him, but she didn't want to push him. And honestly, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to know all the details of his torture.

Jude was wary of the man who took up residence in their home, but in a matter of days he'd embraced the advantages of having a man in the house. Rick, striving to make up for years of not knowing his son, spent as much time as he could with the boy, and Jude was soaking up all the attention. From shooting basketballs with his uninjured arm, to tossing around a baseball in the backyard (against Saddiq's orders and to Michonne's consternation), Rick was trying to be the dad that Jude had missed out on for his whole life.

Judith on the other hand made a habit of rejecting any attention from Rick. His queries about her life and interests resulted in one word answers, unimpressed eye rolls, or stomps up the stairs.

Michonne was appalled at Judith's behavior. She knew Rick's return was earth shaking for the girl, but Michonne had raised Judith better than that. Whenever she would've gone to give the teen a piece of her mind, Rick stopped her.

"I wanna win her over," he explained. "I wanna do it in my own way."

So against her motherly instincts, Michonne didn't step in to correct her daughter's moody behavior.

Judith was artistically talented, and her paintings hung in every room of the Grimes' home. A portrait of wild horses tearing through walker dotted fields was displayed in the living room, a family of squirrels nestled in a tree hollow hung in her bedroom, and in the bathroom, a still-life of people tending Alexandria's gardens with walkers wandering aimlessly in the background on the other side of the gates. Rick was amazed at the detail and technique Judith employed in her paintings, she must've learned all of that from Michonne, but he was unnerved by the number of paintings that included walkers in them.

When Rick asked Michonne about it she said, "walkers have been there her entire life. She doesn't think about them the same way we do. In her mind they're part of the environment, like trees. She paints them without a second thought."

Rick had never thought of walkers as part of nature before. He'd always seen them as a constant threat of death, unnatural and deadly. But Judith had never known a world without walkers, and they were common enough for her to unthinkingly sprinkle them in the scenery of her masterpieces.

One day, as Rick was studying a painting Judith had newly completed, she unexpectedly came home and observed his reflection on her art.

"It's beautiful," Rick said softly, turning from the canvas to look back at her.

Judith nodded once and continued into the house towards the kitchen to get a glass of water. Rick followed behind her.

"If you're not busy, I'd love to hang out with you Judith. I'd like to get to know more about you."

Judith took a sip of her water while she looked out the kitchen window as if Rick wasn't there.

"Maybe we could just sit on the porch after dinner and talk, or… or we could paint together or somethin', doesn't matter really. As long as we're together."

Judith took another sip of her water, and Rick couldn't see her face.

"What do you say?" Rick asked anxiously.

Judith finished her last sip of water and held the glass in her hands as she turned around and faced her father.

"Maybe we can spend time together when I come back from the Kingdom," she said, placing the glass on the counter.

"The Kingdom?" Rick asked, confused about why she'd be going there. "What's happening at the Kingdom?"

Michonne, who had been on the way downstairs when Judith came home and paused in the hallway once she realized Rick and Judith were finally talking, continued down the stairs after hearing Judith's response.

"Judith Grimes," Michonne said. " You are not going to the Kingdom right now. We have a lot of things to work out as a family first."

"What do you mean?" Judith asked, raising her voice. "Mom, you promised you'd check it out!"

"What is going on?" Rick asked, looking from Judith to Michonne.

Judith, uninterested in continuing the rest of the conversation, stormed upstairs.

"Michonne, what is she talking about?" Rick asked.

Michonne sighed and rubbed her temple.

"Judith was supposed to go to the Kingdom because she was offered a horse husbandry apprenticeship. We were on the way there the day we found you. But it can wait. You getting to know your children is more important than that."

Rick shook his head as he thought on the situation.

"Is that something she's passionate about? Horse husbandry?" he asked.

Michonne nodded. "She's always loved horses, but she started getting obsessed when she was about 7 or 8."

"This is a big deal to her isn't it? Getting this apprenticeship."

Michonne nodded. "Yea, it is."

"No wonder she's pissed at me."

"No. She's being ridiculous. I'm gonna talk to her Rick."

"No Michonne. Please. I'll talk to her when she's ready. I missed everything important in her life and I know she's angry. I have to explain things to her. I have to explain that I didn't choose to leave her. And I'm not gonna be the reason why she doesn't get her dream job. I can't Michonne. I want her to have this. I want her to be happy. She's got to go to the Kingdom. That's the reason why I came back, so I could see moments like this with her, not prevent them. I gotta make this right for her."

***can08writer***

Jude was in his room, reading one of the comic books Michonne had given him for his last birthday. She'd told him that they'd belonged to his older brother, and Jude was fascinated to read the same comics that Carl had. His brother had good taste in entertainment.

Suddenly, a pounding on the steps got his attention. Judith was stomping up the stairs. Jude leaped off his bed and stuck his head out of his room door to see what was happening. His sister was just making her way past him with a scowl on her face.

"What happened?" Jude asked.

"Nothing," Judith huffed, an indignant aura radiating from her.

"It's not nothing 'cuz you're stomping up the stairs like a brat," Jude said.

Judith crossed her arms and glowered at her little brother.

"Don't call me a brat," she muttered.

"Then what are you acting like?" Jude asked, taking on a teaching tone that he'd often heard Michonne use.

Judith smirked just enough to let Jude know that she agreed she was slightly out of line. Although they had a normal brother sister relationship, at times Jude was her best friend as there weren't many children near her age. She'd confide things in him that a girl her age normally would with a friend, and they also had no qualms about being brutally honest with each other.

"Mom said I can't go to Kingdom 'cuz our long lost dad came home," Judith explained with a roll of her eyes.

"Uh duh… you think you're gonna move out right after dad came back from the dead?" Jude asked.

"You calling him dad now?"

"What else would I call him?" Jude asked incredulously.

Judith let out a huff and turned to head to her room.

"Why are you being so mean to him? He wants to get to know you y'know, he's pretty nice," Jude called to her.

"Yea well I don't want to get to know him. They should just let me go to the kingdom, and you, Rick, and mom can have the family you've always wanted."

"Stop being so dramatic," Jude said, turning his back on his sister and plopping back on his bed with his hands pillowing the back of his head. Judith turned around, and seeing that she was now alone in the hallway followed Jude into his bedroom.

"And stop being so gullible!" Judith shot back, "he left us once, you don't think he will again? You weren't there when mom was so sad she'd cry all the time and smell his clothes. You don't remember her taking us to the cemetery and talking to him and Carl for hours. You don't remember when she'd spend hours talking to herself, thinking she was talking to him. You're lucky you don't remember stuff, that's why it's so easy to forgive him, but I don't. And I won't. He won't break his promise to me again."

"What promise?" Jude asked, squinting his eyes at his sister.

Judith recognized the same look she'd seen on Rick's face a few times since he'd been living with them.

"Nothing. I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late reading by lamp light, you're gonna hurt your eyes like that," Judith commanded, taking on her older sister authority.

Jude sighed but didn't question his sister's instructions.

"Okay," he agreed. "Goodnight Judith."

"Goodnight Bump," Judith said with a laugh. She still called her little brother that sometimes when she wanted to play around with him.

Jude rolled his eyes at his sister as she left the room, chuckling under her breath.

***can08writer***

Michonne watched out the corner of her eye as Rick washed his face and his bullet wound in the bathroom connected to their bedroom. She was still horrified by the amount of weight he'd lost on the road. He was off the strict soup diet now, he'd graduated to eating soft foods like bread, but he was still very weak.

She'd offered to help him clean up his wound, but he'd refused, so she allowed him his autonomy and now watched him. She still hadn't gotten over the permanent wounds and scars all over him. The scar from his impalement was the most obvious wound, but also little lines and bruises from the many surgeries he'd told her about. She blinked rapidly and had to look away for a moment to stop the tears.

It was three days since he'd come home from the infirmary, and although they'd been sleeping in the same room, his healing wounds and weakness had led to them falling asleep in each others arms, but nothing more.

Rick was barely sleeping, and Michonne knew it well. She could feel him tossing and turning next to her when he was asleep. Sometimes he'd murmur things she couldn't understand, or wake up suddenly and leave in the middle of the night. She could hear him walking around downstairs, or sometimes his body would be cold when he got back into the bed and she knew he'd been sitting out on the porch. He was anxious, unsettled, and she knew it had to do with the threat looming over the heads of their family.

The people who'd tortured him would come for Judith and Jude if they ever found out about them. Even if Judith couldn't give them the cure they wanted, they could still use her to manipulate Rick. She knew if faced with Judith's death Rick would return to those people in a moment. Of course, they didn't have to threaten Rick. If what he said was accurate, they could just kidnap him and Jude if they wanted to.

She slowly climbed out of bed and made her way to him, being sure to allow the floorboards to creak so he was aware of her approach. He was still jumpy. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his stomach, pressing a kiss to his flushed back. His skin was still abnormally warm from the fever that he had from his injection of walker infected fluids. Every time she touched him she was reminded of how he was treated as sub human.

Rick moaned softly and leaned back slightly into her arms. Michonne continued her kisses, peppering his back and shoulders. She finally pressed her cheek into his upper back and held him tightly, breathing him in.

"Do you think they'll believe me?" he asked, "the council? You think they'll send people out there to end a threat they're not even aware of?"

Michonne sighed and squeezed him tighter. "Most of the people on the council don't know you. Some of them may not even have been around when you were in charge of Alexandria. I think you have to tell them all the things these people did to you. You have to _show_ them. You have to explain what these people are capable of."

She removed her head from Rick's back and turned him around to face her, still amazed at the opportunity to look into her husband's eyes again.

" _I_ believe you. And even if they don't, we'll find a way to keep our children safe. We'll figure this out Rick. We always do. The fact that you're back here, safe, tells me there is nothing we can't do. _Nothing_."

She placed both hands on the back of Rick's neck, pulling him closer.

"We're the ones who live."

Rick chortled, and then unexpectedly burst into tears, an uncontrollable sobbing that made snot pour from his nose, and his breath come out in short bursts. He pulled Michonne in to him and hugged her with his good arm, burying his face into her shoulder. Michonne, at a loss for words simply held him, caressing him and hoping the comfort of her body could ease some of his pain. She stood that way, rubbing his back and listening to his sobbing for a few minutes until his cries turned into heavy breathing, and he started to lean on her a bit more. She could tell he was exhausted.

"Rick let's… let's go to bed," she whispered into his ear.

"I heard your voice in my head so many times," he admitted softly. "I heard you talking to me, singing to me. I know it was the drugs sometimes. Sometimes I was so high on anesthetics and pain killers I'd see lots of people. Glenn, Hershel, Shane, Lori, Carl… but when it was you I felt like you were really there. Like I wasn't hallucinating."

He pulled away from her shoulder and looked into her eyes. "One night I had woken up from the anesthetic and no one was around. I was on an IV. They'd done something to me, I don't know what, and I couldn't take it anymore. I was tired. I was weak. I knew from TV that if you put air bubbles in someone's IV that goes right in their veins. It could kill em'. I was gonna poke a hole in the IV bag and try to…"

Rick took a moment to breathe. Michonne was staring at him now, her eyes shimmering with tears, pain everywhere on her beautiful face.

"I heard your voice, clear as day. 'We're the ones who live'. And I felt a kiss on my cheek, like you were right there with me. To be honest it scared me, I thought maybe you'd died and your ghost was visiting me. But it was enough to get me back in that bed. It was enough to stop me."

"Rick…" Michonne said, tears now falling quickly down her cheeks. "Oh God. My poor baby."

"No, no don't be sad," he said, sniffling and attempting to wipe away his own tears. "Don't cry. You saved me. So many times, in so many ways. I love you so much Michonne. No matter what, I will keep our family safe. I'll do whatever that takes."

Michonne touched his chest in a gesture that said 'I know you will.'

"Over the years I thought about Carl. I wondered… he must've had this mutation too… right? What if we… what could've happened if we'd waited? If he hadn't ended it? Maybe he could've survived that bite…"

Michonne choked back a sob and pressed her hand to her mouth, because it hit her like a truck that maybe Carl would've lived if they'd known what they knew now.

"That has been my biggest regret, for all these years once I found out about the mutation. Letting him end his life. I wish I could take it all back. I wish we could've waited."

"Rick," Michonne gasped, barely able to make words through her tears. "We didn't know, we had no idea. We couldn't have known. And there's no guarantee that it would've happened that way. We don't know for sure that he had the mutation, he was so sick. He was in pain. He was… dying. What Carl did was so brave. And asking us to leave the church before he… he was always thinking about others, he wanted to make it as painless for us as he could. Carl accepted his fate, and it isn't helpful for us to think about the what-ifs."

"I can't stop thinking about it. I never could, for eleven years. I failed him. I know I did. I failed Judith too in a way. I never meant for her to grow up losing her dad. And Jude… he's never even experienced having a dad. I failed them both for over a decade, but I'm here to try and make it right."

Michonne sniffled and took a step towards Rick, cupping his face with her hands.

"Stop it. Stop blaming yourself for things out of your control. If this is anyone's fault it's Jadis' and those people who kidnapped you. Carl, wherever he is, doesn't blame you. He wouldn't. I don't blame you…"

"But Judith does," Rick said with a nod, cutting Michonne off.

Michonne couldn't deny that. Her daughter was angry, but she didn't think it directly had to do with Rick. Judith didn't even know Rick.

"Judith will come to her senses, once she gets to know you."

Michonne took his hand and led him from the bathroom to their bedroom. They both climbed into their sides of the bed, and Michonne took Rick's head in her hands and pressed him up against her chest, wrapping her arms around him in a protective gesture.

Exhausted, Rick allowed himself to relax into the comfort of Michonne's arms.

"I love you so much Michonne," Rick whispered into Michonne's chest with his eyes closed.

Michonne rested her head against Rick's and kissed his forehead.

"I love you too Rick. Now sleep."

Rick nuzzled his head against her one more time before his body went completely limp, and she knew he was fast asleep already. Smiling, Michonne gently caressed his shoulders before she too relaxed into slumber.

***can08writer***

Loud yelling woke Rick from his sleep with a start. His body was immediately on full alert, his hands ready to attack, and his eyes scanning the room for a threat. He found none. The only cause of concern was a missing Michonne.

Then he heard it again. Someone was raising their voice. Although he couldn't make out the words, he recognized the voice. Judith. Rick pulled his weak limbs out from under the covers and rubbed his eyes. It was already late morning judging from the amount of sun outside. He hadn't slept past sunrise in a long time.

He made his way out the room and towards the kitchen where the loud voices continued.

"I really can't go to the Kingdom because of _him_? 'Cuz _he's_ back?" Judith screamed indignantly.

"Calm down Judith. I didn't say you could never go, but your father is here and you're gonna get to know him," Michonne said sternly. "He hasn't seen you in 11 years and he wants to be your dad."

"Him? Him?" Judith yelled, out of control, tears running down her face. "He left us! I don't want to get to know him. It's always been me, you, and Jude. That's it. That's my family."

"Judith he didn't leave, he was taken!" Michonne yelled back, losing her cool with the attitude her daughter had put on lately.

"So what? He wasn't there!"

Just then, Rick walked into the room, interrupting the mother daughter argument. Judith looked at him as if caught with her finger in the cookie jar. Then it morphed into a mask of hurt and anger.

Judith turned on Rick in a rage. "We don't need you. You don't keep your promises. I remember the last time I saw you. I _remember_. You gave me a kiss on the head and told me you'd be back soon. You promised. You PROMISED! And you never came back."

Judith was so full of emotion her body shook with each word.

"Do you know how that feels? When your dad never comes back? When everyone says he's dead and then he comes back out of the blue and expects everything to be perfect again? I don't even know you!"

It was silent in the room. Judith shook in anger, while Michonne stared at her wide eyed from her outburst.

"Judith…" Michonne whispered.

Through Judith's anger, her eyes shimmered with tears.

"I don't need you. I've wanted to stay at the Kingdom before I even met you! It's your fault I'm not there, and you're ruining everything for me again. Stay here and be a dad to Jude and let me go."

Tears streamed down Rick's cheeks at the words his daughter was saying. They felt like daggers impaling his heart. Every day he'd kept himself from going crazy by thinking about what she'd do, what she'd say when he came back to her. He'd imagined her just as she was, a happy 4 year old who loved her Daddy. A child who would accept him back with open arms. He didn't consider that she'd lived more than half her life without him, and maybe didn't want him to come back.

"Judith," he choked out, "I won't ever let you go. No matter what you say. No matter what you do. I will always be your Dad. I will always love you. And I will always come back for you."

Judith's lip trembled, and she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"I don't need you," she said again, almost as if she were trying to convince herself.

"But I need you," Rick replied, taking a step towards his daughter. "I've always needed you. You're my hope. My life. You're why I'm living, and why I could keep living after I lost Carl. After Carl died, my only hope was making a safe future for you."

Michonne watched on as Judith digested Rick's sentence. When she spoke again her voice softened slightly.

"I feel so dumb. After all those years of talking to you like you could really hear me… before I went to bed I would tell you about my day, I would show you stuff that I made… and during all of that you were still alive. You didn't hear any of the stuff I told you. I was talking to myself." She shook her head in embarrassment.

"Sometimes I thought I actually felt you, like you were right there with me. But you weren't. It was all a lie. Heaven, and angels, were all lies too. So much for that."

"I did that too Judith. I got taken away from you against my will. People kidnapped me and took me to a ship far away. They did things to me, took pieces of me. I couldn't stop any of it. The only thing that kept me going was you. I talked to you and your mama every night. And I _knew_ you were alive. And I hoped you'd somehow hear me. Maybe you were answering the questions I was asking you and you didn't even know. It makes me feel so good that you tried to remember me. That you spoke to me. That I was there when you needed me, even though I wasn't. But maybe I was. Maybe those times that you were talkin' to me, and I was talkin' to you, maybe we heard each other and didn't even know it."

Judith rolled her eyes at her father's suggestion.

"Believe me when I say if I could've been there I would've done anything to be there. Anything."

Rick moved closer to Judith and held her hand. She didn't pull away.

"You are my baby girl. My pride and joy. You are my whole world, Judith Grimes. I would kill for you. I'd die for you. I'll sacrifice anything I can to make sure you're safe. I'm so proud of you, to see how you've grown and matured. You're everything I wanted you to be."

Rick placed both hands on Judith's cheeks, making her look up at him.

"Daddy is so proud of you, sweetheart."

Judith blinked a few times and scowled. Rick thought she'd pull away, but her eyes filled with tears that spilled down her cheeks, and her lip trembled with emotion.

Rick wrapped his arms around his daughter and pulled her against his chest. He hadn't held her in so long. He wanted to never let go.

"I'm so sorry sweetie. I love you so much," he whispered while resting his chin on the top of her head.

Michonne struggled to hold back her tears as she heard her daughter sniffle into Rick's chest. Soon her lips were trembling too. She missed this, having Rick and Judith together. Her daughter, as much as she claimed otherwise, needed her father. Probably more now than she ever had. Judith finally responded to Rick, and wrapped her arms around him.

Rick looked up and saw Michonne wiping her tears away with the sleeve of her shirt. He gestured with his head for her to come closer. When Michonne stepped forward, Rick encompassed her too, feeling complete with his girls in his arms.

It may take some more time, but Rick was confident Judith could become his little girl again.

Jude, who was a notoriously deep sleeper, wandered into the kitchen, his eyes half closed. He paused when he saw his whole family in a group hug, and was shocked when he noticed Judith in the middle of it. Crossing his arms he gave a crooked smile.

"Okay, what did I miss?"

"Get in here son," Rick said with a smile, widening his arms so Jude could slip inside of the hug too.

***can08writer***

Rick had been antsy all week, waiting for the council to reconvene. Michonne had assured him that the missing council members were due back any day, and they would meet promptly after they returned.

It was a rare eventless day in Alexandria, and as the sun set, Rick helped Judith peel potatoes, while Michonne chopped carrots and Jude plucked a pigeon that'd landed on the gate near their home and he'd gotten with his slingshot. Pigeon stew was on the menu, and although it wasn't the family's favorite food, they couldn't let the unlucky bird go to waste.

Rick had jumped at the opportunity to help Judith with potato duty, and even though they peeled in a comfortable silence, Judith and Rick worked as a well oiled team. Michonne had shot Rick a few looks of triumph as she watched them, to which Rick smiled back in return.

Michonne went over to the stove and filled a pot with fresh water before lighting the fire for the stew when there was a noisy ruckus outside.

Kids were screaming and people were shouting. Rick was already on edge, but the yelling ramped it up big time. Michonne ran to grab her katana, and Judith pulled Rick's colt from its holster before they ran to the front door.

"Mom!" Jude yelled excitedly from outside, "Mom, Judith! Come look quick! What is that?"

Rick was the first one out the door, followed by Judith, and then Michonne with her katana at the ready. Everyone was outside, staring and pointing at the sky in disbelief. The adults yelling furiously in alarm, as the children stared captivated.

Rick and Michonne couldn't see much from where they were, as surrounding trees blocked their immediate view of the sky. They jogged over to an older couple who were shaking their heads in shock.

"What the hell? Is that…" a man began, but Rick finally spotted what had the whole town talking, off in the distance, miles away. A steady white light, with a blinking red one on top, soaring through the darkening night sky.

The blood rushed from his head, and he stumbled backwards into Michonne who was right behind him.

"It looks like a helicopter," the older woman declared, "doesn't it, Will?

"No," Michonne said in disbelief.

"Did you guys see it?" Jude said excitedly, "what is it? Is it an airplane?"

"Get inside," Rick said softly, his voice barely a whisper. His legs began moving like a man possessed, before his brain had time to catch up. He grabbed Michonne by the arm, and Jude by his shoulder, and began to drag the two of them back into the house.

"What? What is it?" Jude questioned, completely taken by surprise.

"Rick?" Michonne asked, concerned by the strength in which he was pulling her.

"You have to get inside now. You have to hide. All of you! You have to hide!" Rick began to scream to everyone as he pulled on his family.

"Rick, Rick let go!" Michonne said louder, twisting in his grip, but he moved like a man possessed, panicking at the sight of his worst nightmare.

Everyone was torn away from the blinking lights in the distance to watch Rick who was freaking out.

"Get inside!" he screamed, now pushing Michonne and Jude. Judith was still standing on the porch, and Rick pushed all three of them back into the house.

"Rick stop it! Calm down!" Michonne was saying, but he wouldn't listen.

Michonne gently ushered her children inside to get them away from their despondent father.

"Get inside and turn off all the lights! Get in your houses now or you're gonna die!" he screamed.

"Rick… okay, okay Rick, they don't understand," Michonne pleaded, but he jumped off the steps and started shoving the mesmerized populace towards their homes.

"Turn your lights off now so they can't find us!" Rick said, grabbing hold of a man.

The man snatched himself away from Rick's grip. Two members of Alexandria's security team were alerted by the scuffle, and jogged over.

"Hey, hey man, just calm down," the man said, grabbing Rick's wrist to keep him still.

"Get off of me!" Rick screamed, his eyes turning wild.

The second man grabbed Rick's other arm.

"Hey, hey everyone just chill," Michonne yelled at them. "Doug, Louie, let go of his arm…"

Michonne didn't get her sentence out before Rick swung at one of the men, connecting with his jaw. The man dropped to the ground in silence. Rick turned on the second man, punching him in the stomach.

"Rick no! Stop!" Michonne screamed.

He was out of control, panic making him irrational and dangerous. Two more men were running at him, and Michonne knew this wouldn't end well.

Using the blunt end of her katana, she reached up and clocked Rick in the back of the head, dropping him to the ground in a heap.


	5. Chapter 5

Rick woke up to a pounding headache. He opened his eyes and would've bolted up from the couch he was laying on if he hadn't felt Michonne's hands gently pushing him back down.

"It's okay. It's okay!" she said, repositioning a bag of ice to the back of his head.

"The helicopter, we have to…"

"It's handled Rick. It's okay. I ordered everyone to turn their lights off for the rest of the night. I have riders out searching for any signs that they're nearby, and we're on high alert. Everyone is armed. There were no more sightings all night."

"All night? What… what time is it?"

"Uh… it's afternoon now. I'm so, so, sorry."

Rick reached up and felt his throbbing head.

"What happened?"

"I uh… knocked you out," Michonne said softly. "I'm sorry, but you were out of control. No one was going to listen to you the way you were yelling and screaming, and you were getting dangerous. They were about to arrest you and…"

She reached out and stroked his hand. "I'm sorry for hurting you. You've been hurt enough." She paused, running her finger tips down Rick's cheek. "It was the only way to make you stop."

"You knocked me out?" Rick asked incredulously.

"Yea," Michonne confirmed.

"Again?" he asked, nodding and tilting his head in a way that let her know he was amused.

"Well, you do have a habit of flipping out. Although this time your flipping out was justified. Why are they near here? I thought they took you to New Jersey?"

"They're looking for me, Michonne. I thought maybe they thought I was dead. I haven't seen a helicopter in months, but I knew if they had any inkling I was still alive they'd keep looking, and they did. They can't find us Michonne. They can't."

"I know Rick," she said, "the council meeting is in an hour. Everyone wants to know what's going on."

***can08writer***

The meeting was packed. The Alexandrians were all curious and freaked out by the sight of the helicopter, and Rick and Michonne's reactions to it. They were eager to hear what Rick had to say once he was calm, and in an impassioned speech he explained that the helicopter group were a threat to the entire town. He told of how they'd captured, tortured, and experimented on him, and he made it clear that if they found the town no one would be safe. However, he didn't mention the mutation that made he and Jude their prime targets. It was information that could easily fall into the wrong hands, and he didn't want to make it common knowledge.

Rick had been pondering how to take this sophisticated group of enemies down since he arrived in Alexandria, and the appearance of the helicopter in their vicinity solidified his plan. If they were going to make sure these people wouldn't come back, they had to separate them from what kept them going.

Their fuel.

Rick was well aware that the helicopters, as well as the life-sustaining facilities on the mothership all ran on fuel. He'd seen solar panels as well, but the ship couldn't move, the helicopter couldn't fly, without the stashes of gallons of gasoline that the group had access to.

Rick had asked Jadis how it was possible that an aircraft carrier could still function so long after everything else had gone down. The electricity, air conditioning, water pumps and filtration systems all ran on gasoline guzzling engines. Jadis had explained that there was a high ranking general stationed on the ship, and he had access to the military's bunkers of emergency rations and gasoline for situations just like this. That was how they were still able to fly helicopters and have things that other people had long run out of. They kept the ship far from land, so the walkers couldn't get them, but the helicopters were their lifeline to deliveries of fuel, food, people, and other goods.

Fuel was their weakness, and Rick knew that to destroy them they had to destroy the source of their power.

"We can't get to them. They're on a ship, and if we even try to approach it they'll sink our boats with machine guns. But there's another way we can get rid of them. It's simple," Rick explained to the crowd.

"If we set their gasoline storage on fire, they can't travel. They haven't adapted to this world like we have. They don't have horses, and mills, and fields of crops. They still live like the old world, using electricity and lights, eating military rations, and not growing food sustainably. It's like they're waiting for the old world to come back soon. They look down on those of us who have survived out here despite the walkers. They look at us like we're savages. That's why they felt they could kidnap me, use me… they think they're superior, and when they trade and barter human beings they're doing them a favor."

Rick paced across the floor, and everyone in the room gave him their full attention.

"Jadis told me they depend on people from other communities, who work with them to deliver captives and test subjects for their use. Jadis was one of those people. She'd kidnap survivors she found, in exchange for food and supplies. These people aren't adapted to the world we live in every day. We can end them. We can protect ourselves forever from them."

The council members that were present, including Michonne, took 30 minutes to discuss the situation and vote. They decided to allow a volunteer army of 10 people to go with Rick to do what needed to be done. The group was small, but it would have to do. They were going to have to use guerilla warfare against these people. Michonne was the first to volunteer, vowing to never let Rick out of her sight again.

Over the course of three days they'd come up with a plan based on Rick's knowledge of the illusive helicopter group, and they packed and planned to be gone for about two weeks.

Michonne was concerned about Rick's health. He was making strides to come back from the emaciated man who'd arrived at Alexandria over a week ago, but he was still weakened. She questioned whether he was strong enough to survive the round trip.

As they lay in their bed, the night before they were to leave, Rick picked up on Michonne's anxiety.

"We can do this," he said, before he turned on his side to face her.

She reached out and gently pulled on his beard which had almost completely grown back since the shave he had when he'd first arrived in town.

"How do you know this plan will stop them?" Michonne asked, finally allowing some of the doubt she'd been suppressing to push through.

Michonne took a breath. "How do I know you'll survive this?"

Rick smiled sadly and played with one of Michonne's locs.

"Remember when I asked how I got so lucky findin' you?"

Michonne smiled and nodded her head, recalling one of the last few nights they'd spent together. At that time in their lives they'd thought they had forever together, little did she know she'd be without him for over a decade.

"I've come to realize over those eleven years that I'm not a lucky man. All the good things that have happened in my life were because of hard work and never giving up. It was because I had you and my children as inspiration to keep walking, keep moving, keep pushing forward. I won't give up until these people are no longer a threat to Jude and Judith. That's all I can say."

Michonne nodded and caressed Rick's chin, pulling his beard to pull him closer. She pressed her soft lips to his, and kissed his top and then bottom lip tenderly.

Rick released a soft growl of desire, and wrapped his uninjured arm around Michonne's muscular waist, holding her to him. He kissed her deeply in return, but then broke away for a moment.

"Michonne. I… I have to tell you something."

Michonne waited patiently for Rick to continue.

He closed his eyes as if this memory was too painful to talk about while looking at her.

"When I was held captive, there was a woman there. She wasn't a doctor, but she'd help them, y'know? She'd draw blood, or take my blood pressure, or… or help clean me up when I couldn't. She… she took a liking to me. I don't know why, or how, but she'd come and visit me when she wasn't working. Sometimes she'd be there when I woke up. She'd talk to me about her life, and her kids that had died. I never told her much about myself, but she'd talk a lot anyway. To be honest, I didn't mind her talkin'. I had no one else to talk to, I figured it would keep me saner than talkin' to myself. One day she warned me that they were planning to take out some more of my bone marrow and try to implant it into someone else, to see if they could make other people create blood cells that were immune to the walker virus. They were set to do it the next day. I… I couldn't take more of that. It was the last straw, and after everything that I'd been through I was determined to make it stop. I asked her to kill me, or give me something to kill myself with. She thought I was joking at first, but then she must've seen I was serious about it. She offered me something else instead. She said if I laid with her, just once, she'd unlock my door and let me go. She said she'd tell me how to get on a lifeboat and get out of there."

Michonne shifted uncomfortably, her eyes squinting as she anticipated what Rick would say next.

"That's how things worked there. They had no currency, so bartering, favors, and sex, was how people got things done. I'd heard others talkin' about doing sexual favors as payment for services…"

Rick's face turned red and his eyes glazed over with tears. He didn't want to look into her eyes and see hurt, betrayal, or worse, disappointment. He didn't want her to be angry with him, because he'd been angry with himself for a long time. But, against all of his instincts, he forced himself to look her in the eyes.

"So I did it," he said. "I had nothing left to lose. If she lied, I'd still be there, but if she was tellin' the truth… maybe I'd have a chance of seeing you and Judith again."

She had frozen, her breath hitched in her throat. She didn't move a muscle, and nervous she would walk out Rick continued, just to fill the silence.

"I… I did it. And when it was over, she just got up and left. I… I was so numb on the inside. I felt empty. I felt nothing. I hated myself for what I'd done. For betraying you. I lay there in my room for a few minutes, wondering if she'd keep her promise, and I realized the door was cracked. She'd left it open. I looked out and there was no one down the halls, and there was a pair of scrubs left in front of the door and a note."

 _Lifeboats: take a right, go up the stairs. Go to the end of the hallway, leads to lifeboat deck. Guards are changing shift in the next ten minutes, good luck._

"I got dressed, and I followed her instructions to the lifeboat deck. A woman with a child spotted me, but I had scrubs on so she didn't give me a second glance. I… I couldn't believe it was so easy. After years, and years of being on that ship, never thinking I'd see the outside of it again, I was leaving. And I definitely was… either in that boat or jumping into that water."

Michonne still stared at Rick unblinking. He wasn't even sure if she'd taken a breath since the last time he'd spoken, so he continued to ramble on, hoping she'd speak soon.

"I couldn't hide the sound of the lifeboat lowering into the water. I was spotted halfway down the side of the ship. They said if I didn't stop I'd be shot down, but one must've recognized me 'cuz he told the others not to risk killing me, that I was too important. I got into the water and I raced off in the little boat. They were gearing up the helicopter to come get me. I was that important that they were willing to waste that much gas to bring me back."

When he looked at Michonne she was breathing again, but her eyes were still wide.

"Michonne… I… I'm so sorry," he breathed out. "I swear I didn't want to…"

Michonne held up a hand to silence Rick.

"Don't you dare…" she croaked out, her voice cracking with emotion.

Rick's worse nightmare of Michonne hating him for what he'd done was coming true.

"Don't you dare apologize."

Rick felt sick with guilt. His lip trembled and his emotions threatened to overtake him.

"Michonne please…" he gasped out, wanting to assure her that he'd had no other options.

"There is nothing to apologize for," Michonne continued, scooting closer to him. "You hear me? Nothing. That woman took advantage of you. She was a caregiver and she used her power over you to make you do what she wanted. She is disgusting, and you did nothing wrong because you're back here with us."

Rick's jaw dropped at how easily Michonne forgave him.

"I know you'd never do anything like that if you thought there was another way. There wasn't Rick. I know that because I know you. She forced you into sex that you didn't want. It's not your fault, okay?"

Rick shook his head in disbelief at his wife. His chest caved forward with the weight of her words.

 _It's not your fault._

He had blamed himself for those ten minutes with that woman for months. He'd called himself unfaithful and a cheater as he lay by himself in some long abandoned house, or in the shell of a burned out car for the night. He'd never thought of himself as the victim in that situation. He was a man after all, and the woman didn't overpower him. But the way Michonne had forgiven him, unequivocally and without question allowed him to see the incident for what it had been. Coercion and rape. He hadn't wanted it, but he didn't have much of a choice.

Michonne could almost see the conversation racing through his head. She could see that it took everything he had to muster up the courage to tell her the truth, and to be honest it hurt her to know he was with someone else. While she was grieving and missing him, he'd had sex with another woman. But never once did she think he'd chosen it, or even enjoyed it. She could see the sadness in his eyes.

She placed her hand on his cheek.

"Are you okay?" she asked, trying her best to read his mind when he didn't answer fast enough.

"I'm… I just… I am so sorry Michonne. I never wanted to hurt you. I didn't even want to hurt you by telling you, but I knew I had to to move past it. I never wanted…"

"I know Rick," Michonne said softly. From the way he'd acted when she'd asked how he escaped, she already knew it was something like that.

He nodded and a tear dropped from his eye.

She grabbed his head and pulled him towards her, hugging him, and he melted into her.

"I don't deserve you. I really don't," he stated while he sniffled.

"No, you don't," Michonne said with a small smile, "but I'm stuck with you anyway."

Rick chuckled and pulled away from her, looking into her eyes. He held her face with both hands and pulled her into another slow kiss. His tongue moved languidly through her mouth, tasting her. She eagerly responded, wrapping her arms around his neck and plopping herself in his lap carefully, mindful that he still wasn't in the best health.

"I want you. I've missed you so much. It's been too long" he said softly. "If you still want me…"

"Of course I do, but are you ready?" she asked skeptically, looking down at his arm that still had a bandage from the healing gunshot wound. Even if he was physically ready, his emotional readiness was another concern.

Rick grasped each of Michonne's butt cheeks, firmly squeezing them as he looked into her eyes. Without warning, he tried to flip her over so that he was on top of her, but the quick motion was too much for his injured arm to take, and he almost dropped her as he sucked in a breath and winced in pain.

"And that's the answer to that," Michonne replied with a chuckle.

"Wait, I just need a minute," Rick said, gingerly holding his arm.

"Nope, this isn't happening. You need to rest and heal. And you really shouldn't be going out tomorrow either. You're still weak Rick."

"I have to go," Rick said stubbornly.

"I know, but tonight you're gonna take it easy."

"You deserve… It's not fair to you."

"I'm fine Rick. I've waited 11 years for you, I can wait until we come back. Really. I'm okay."

Rick recognized the look of resolve on her face.

"Okay, when we get back," he said with a nod. "It'll be worth the wait."

***can08writer***

Early the next morning, Rick and Michonne got dressed, and prepared to say goodbye to their children. To their surprise, Judith and Jude were already awake when the pair emerged from their bedroom, both of the children suspiciously jumpy.

"Why are you guys awake already?" Michonne asked, pressing a kiss to Judith's forehead.

"We made you breakfast," Judith replied, motioning to two bowls of oatmeal that had been left on the kitchen counter.

"How sweet!" Michonne said, genuinely surprised. She turned to Rick. "Look what they did!"

Rick smiled and hugged Judith and then Jude who was sitting at the kitchen table.

"Mmm, smells good," he commented.

"We put cinnamon in it," Jude explained.

"He put a little too much in yours," Judith said to Rick.

"There's never too much cinnamon," Rick said, grabbing his bowl. "Thanks guys."

They had to leave soon, but they weren't going to leave without spending one last morning eating breakfast with the kids. There was no guarantee they'd ever return, and they both knew it.

Rick and Michonne joined Jude and Judith, and the four of them began eating their oatmeal in silence. A heaviness hung in the air.

"We'll be back in a few weeks when everything's finished. Siddiq is gonna come and check in on you guys every day to make sure you're okay. Both of you need to be attending school regularly, you hear me?" Michonne asked in her bossy mommy voice.

Jude's eyes flicked between Michonne and Judith, and Michonne could sense something was up.

"Judith?" Michonne asked.

"Okay," Judith agreed, shoving a spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth.

"And when you go out hunting, both of you go together," Rick chimed in, "you need to have each other's backs."

"Mmhmm" Jude said, copying Judith and shoving oatmeal into his mouth.

Rick took a spoonful of his own oatmeal and was taken aback by the sheer amount of cinnamon dumped into it. Jude must've dropped the container in it, but he swallowed down the spoonful so as not to hurt his son's feelings.

"Are you gonna kill people?" Jude asked, looking into his bowl as he spoke.

Rick, Michonne, and Judith all turned to looked at him. Rick then exchanged a look with Michonne.

"We might have to," Rick said, not wanting to lie to his son, "but we only do that when we have to."

"Can me and Judith come?" Jude asked, looking up at his parents, his hazel eyes getting wide as if pleading.

Suddenly a thump sounded from under the table, and Jude winced and whispered "ouch!".

Michonne glanced at Judith, who was nonchalantly mixing her oatmeal with her spoon. When she realized Michonne was staring at her, she glanced up and looked over at Jude.

"Sorry Jude, my foot slipped."

"Be _nice_ to each other," Michonne stressed. "I don't want to hear from Siddiq that the two of you were fighting."

"You won't mom," Judith said, nodding her head.

"When your mom and I get back here, we'll take you to the kingdom, together," Rick promised.

Judith perked up at the news, her eyes squinting at her father.

"Really?" she asked, quickly looking at her mother and then back to him for confirmation.

"Really," Rick answered.

Judith smiled and tucked one of her braids behind her ears.

"Okay."

She gave a genuine smile that warmed Rick's heart. He'd never seen her smile like that before, and he was proud that his words had caused it.

Michonne glanced at the window and then at Rick.

"We have to go."

She stood and leaned over to kiss Jude on the forehead, gently stroking his curls.

"I love you baby, be good," she said.

Rick hugged Judith and told her he loved her as well, they then switched children.

Jude and Judith walked their parents to the door, waving as the pair headed towards gates.

"That was sweet," Rick said to Michonne as they walked. "Do they usually make breakfast if you go somewhere?"

"Never," Michonne replied. "Half the time if I go on runs they don't even wake up. I just give them a hug and kiss and they go right back to sleep. Maybe they know how serious this mission is."

Rick nodded absentmindedly.

"The military bunker that I know about, the people who helped me survive the winter told me about. They were living in a National Wildlife Refuge, in Delaware, mostly because there were less walkers there because there were less people. I was lucky to even find them and luckier that they were kind enough to help me. They knew of the group that lived on the aircraft carrier. They'd seen the helicopters fly overhead. They told me at first they tried to get their attention, flag em down, but they realized they didn't want their attention after people had tried to approach the boat on rafts and were shot. They learned to avoid that group, even hide from them. They helped me to sink the lifeboat and we hid all winter. It was tough living with them. They didnt have what we have here. Solid houses, electricity… they had traps and nets for food, but they lived in wooden cabins or even caves. But I wouldn't have survived without them. I was weak, heavily drugged still, I'll always be grateful to them. There were a few naval bases near the wildlife refuge, they told me there was one in particular that they saw helicopters coming and going from from time to time. I knew that must've been one of the refueling places Jadis spoke of. I stayed far from there. It'll be rough to get back there."

"I know."

Rick took her hand. "I'm glad you're with me this time. Walking here from there, it took everything."

They reached the others who were loading up horses with supplies. They were taking two wagons with them to carry their belongings and explosives. They expected to stash the wagons and horses later on when they had to cross at least one large body of water, carrying their belongings on their backs the rest of the way.

"Everything's packed, we got a few people saying goodbye over there, but we're pretty much ready," DJ said to the two of them.

"Thanks DJ. Are you ready to go?"

"I guess. I'm taking this as a long hiking trip with a big bonfire at the end. Look, I owe you Rick. After what the Saviors did to your people, what we tried to do the day you slashed Negan, you could've killed us all but you didn't. You took us into the fold, even tried to build that bridge to help the Sanctuary. We all owe you for giving us a second chance. If you say these people are a threat to us here, I'm with you."

"Thanks DJ" Rick said with a nod. He'd never said two words to the man before, but he could see how much Michonne trusted him, and how other former Saviors had embedded themselves into Alexandria. They were truly one people, and it gave Rick a sense of peace to know that even with him not there, Carl's dream lived on. Mainly because of Michonne.

Father Gabriel approached and nodded at both Michonne and Rick. "We'll hold down the fort while you're gone. We're still on high alert and a no night time light policy."

"If a helicopter spots this town, you get everyone into the sewers and out of here. Judith and Jude…"

"In case we're incurred upon we have our evacuation plan. Everyone will be informed of it this afternoon. In the event of an emergency, my first priority is Judith and Jude. I will not fail you. Are you comfortable leaving me in charge of Alexandria's defenses?" Father Gabriel asked Michonne, and then he turned to Rick and the two of them shared a brief smile. He remembered giving a speech nearly identical to this one the first time Rick left him in charge while he went to get medical help to a pregnant Maggie. He hoped the outcome of this trip would be better than that first one years ago.

Michonne smiled and patted her friend on the shoulder.

"Yes," she confirmed.

Gabriel smiled and gave her a hug, and then held out his hand to shake Rick's.

They looked around and saw that the ten Alexandrians who volunteered to carry out this mission were ready.

Rick breathed a deep sigh.

"Let's go."

***can08writer***

Twelve hours into their journey, the group reached the Chesapeake Bay bridge in Annapolis, Maryland. Rick didn't know the condition of the bridge, but according to their map it was the fastest way across the Chesapeake Bay. Without it, they'd have to ditch their horses earlier than expected and take a boat, or they'd have to go around, adding possible weeks onto their journey.

It had been a long day of traveling, and it was getting dark quickly, so the group made a makeshift camp underneath the dilapidated toll booths, and decided to check out the bridge in the morning.

Some of the group started a fire, as Michonne and Rick walked off to do a sweep of the neighboring area to make sure it was safe to stay there.

Michonne had to admit it felt good to be out on the road with Rick for the first time in over a decade. She smiled into the darkness as she thought about the many times they'd gone on runs together, but he somehow sensed that she was smiling, even though it was nearly impossible for him to know in the dark woods.

"What is it?" Rick asked.

Michonne let out a short laugh and said, "just thinking about the old days. Me, you, and Carl on the road, and then all of us when we traveled to Alexandria. I can't say that was the _good_ old days, but… I just miss being with you. Even in a situation like this."

Rick smiled and reached for Michonne's hand in the darkness. He knew they should stay on guard, they were in a new area with all manners of unknown dangers, but he couldn't resist the urge to show her some affection. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead, taking the moment to breathe in her smell. Michonne felt his growing beard rubbing against her face.

Their moment was interrupted when there was a warning yell coming from the camp. The two of them turned and sprinted back towards their friends, Michonne's katana ready to strike, and Rick pulling a gun from his holster.

"What's that sound?" one of the men was shouting. "I think there's something in the wagon."

They all paused and could hear creaking come from inside the wagon, as if someone or something was adjusting its weight. Rick and Michonne soundlessly surrounded the wagon, the horses sensing the change in mood and pricking up their ears. Michonne motioned that she would pull back the tarp while Rick kept his gun ready.

Michonne opened the tarp, and Rick lunged at the wagon aiming his gun inside when two yells rang out.

"Ahh!"

"Dad, it's us! It's us!" Judith called from inside, her hands shielding herself and Jude from his potential bullet.

"What?" Michonne barked, her katana still pointed into the darkened interior.

The blood drained from Rick's face when he recognized the two terrified faces of his children.


	6. Chapter 6

"What?!" Michonne asked, as her katana lowered towards the ground of its own accord. She couldn't comprehend the fact that she was staring at her children while on one of the most dangerous missions they'd ever been on.

"Judith…" Rick said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Hi… uh…" Judith said at a loss for words. Jude was looking back and forth between his parents, but his eyes kept fixating on Michonne's. She'd looked shocked at first, but he could see the anger slowly seeping in.

"Why… why are you here?" Rick asked.

"Judith Grimes!" Michonne growled, making the final transition from shock to rage. Judith didn't hear that tone from her mother often, but when she did she knew it was not a time to mess with her. "Get out of that wagon right now!"

Judith quickly leaped down from the wagon, and Jude disembarked behind her, staying somewhat behind his big sister.

"What the hell are you doing here! I told you and your brother to stay home! How… how did you even get in there? Do you realize what you've done? How dangerous this is?"

Michonne put her hand to her head and blew out a breath. She was so angry she didn't want to say much more before she ended up strangling her children.

Rick was just as angry, but seeing that Michonne was on the verge, he took control of the situation.

"What were you two trying to do?" he asked. "You could've been killed! I could've shot you!"

"We just wanted to help," Judith said, even now realizing how ridiculous their logic sounded at this point. "I was gonna go alone, but Jude said he'd tell if I didn't let him come too. We didn't expect to hide for this long, just enough that we got some distance away from Alexandria. But then it had gone on for so long I got scared to let you guys know we were in here. And _you_ said we should have each others backs…"

"Don't you dare try to use my words against me young lady," Rick shot out, and Judith nodded and promptly shut her mouth, her eyes looking at the ground.

Michonne, who was pacing nearby, spun around at Judith's words.

"The two of you are in so much trouble," Michonne said in a barely controlled whisper. "You just destroyed our whole plan. Now we have to go _back_ to Alexandria to take you home. We have to go back a full day the way we came, just because the two of you couldn't listen. Judith, you are so grounded. And Jude, you are too. I am so disappointed in _both_ of you."

DJ, who had been watching the familial confrontation, decided this was a good time to cut in.

"Michonne, I don't think going back is a good idea. Look at the weather. The sky was overcast when the sun was up, and now with the sun going down, the temperature is dropping. I think we have a storm coming, probably either tomorrow morning or afternoon. We have to get across this bridge before the storm rolls in. We don't know the sturdiness of the bridge, and if the storm is bad enough we may not be able to cross in that kind of weather. If we all turn around and head back we might be waiting to cross until the storm passes, and it might be days more.

"So what, are you're saying we should take our kids with us?" Rick asked him with his eyes narrowed.

"No. Maybe one of you can take them back and then meet up with the rest of us."

"I will," Michonne said. "I'll take them back in the morning, you continue on with the others. I'll catch up."

"No. I'm not letting you come all the way back here alone. Anything can happen."

"Well you need to be with the group. You're the only one that knows these helicopter people. If you come back with me we'll risk being stuck on this side of the bridge for an undefined amount of time until the storm passes."

Rick sighed.

" _We_ can just go home," Judith suggested softly, and both of her parents gave her dangerous looks. Jude nudged her and shook his head, and her cheeks turned red.

"Gabriel and Siddiq are probably having a heart attack right now," Rick said with a sigh.

"This is a mess," Michonne agreed. "Look, we can't do anything right now. We finish setting up camp and we'll decide what to do in the morning."

Rick nodded.

"As for you two, are you hungry?" she asked, examining her children's faces.

The kids' heads bobbed eagerly. Their desperate looks told her they hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning.

"Sit down here and I'll get you something," Michonne said before storming off.

She went over to her horse and unpacked one of her bags that was carrying extra rations. She reached in and pulled out some pieces of fruit, and it was then that she noticed her hands were shaking. She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.

She was nervous about this mission already, and now the stakes had been hiked up to an excessive degree. Her babies were out here on the road, exactly where she didn't want them to be.

She turned back to see Rick unpacking a tent that the four of them would have to share for the night, while the kids silently sat where she'd told them to stay. Their sheepish looks told her they realized their burst of disobedience was ill planned and stupid, and they were trying to stay out of the way.

She closed her eyes and slowly rubbed her forehead before turning back to her family, carrying their dinner of fruit.

***can08writer***

Rick woke up the next morning, lying on his left side with his face inches from the blue vinyl walls of the tent his family was sharing. He yawned softly and slowly rolled onto his back, feeling an immediate soreness and pain in his arm that told him he'd been resting on his bullet wound.

He grunted softly and turned his head to the right which wound up buried in the back of Michonne's long hair. Her back was leaning up against his side in the close quarters. He gently pressed a kiss to her shoulder blade, but she didn't wake.

Rick looked over her shoulder at Jude who lay on his stomach, directly next to Michonne. His head was resting on his folded arms and he was sleeping deeply, with his mouth slightly opened.

Judith was lying on her side by Michonne and Jude's feet, with her arm resting under her head like a pillow, some strands of her blond hair curled across her face. He fondly thought back to when she was a little girl and how she used to sleep like that all the time. Her lips were pouting in her sleep, and he smiled and acknowledged how much her mouth and eyes reminded him of Lori.

He sat up and slowly became aware of the patter of rain bouncing off the tent.

By the time everyone had packed up their temporary camp, the rain was a steady downpour.

"We have to cross with the horses now," DJ said to Michonne. "This rain looks like its only gonna get worse. This isn't one of those short downpours."

Rick rubbed his temple and stared towards the massive bridge that spanned the water for miles. "I hate to agree but he's right."

"We can't let them go to that base with us," Michonne firmly.

"I know that. We can keep them away, hidden. We find a safe place for them a few miles away while we go in. You know I don't like this either, I know what these people are capable of, but… at this point we can't go back."

Michonne looked back at her children who were waiting by the wagons that they'd stowed away on.

"Okay" she said with a sigh.

The trip across the bridge in the rain was harrowing. There were large potholes and crumbling concrete from the years of disrepair and the constant beatings by the elements. The horses were spooked by the waves that seemed to get higher by the minute, and crashed into the concrete bridge supports. At the lowest points on the bridge, the waves were almost reaching the roadway.

"Is this safe?" Jude whispered to Judith. The two of them had been banished to the inside of the wagon and they knew they were still on thin ice with their parents.

"Of course it's not," Judith whispered back. "It's never safe when we leave the gates, you know that."

"But like, what if this bridge breaks or something? It's so old."

"Well get ready to swim then," Judith replied. When she saw the sickly look on her brother's face her tone softened.

"We'll be okay. We're gonna prove ourselves to mom so she knows we can go on runs and missions and stuff. This is your chance to prove you're not a useless little kid."

"We're gonna prove it to mom _and_ dad right?" Jude asked.

Judith rolled her eyes and then smiled. "Yea, mom _and_ dad."

As they rode, Michonne noticed that Rick looked pale, and sweat was beading on his forehead.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked, trotting her horse up beside him. "You're not getting sick are you?"

"No," he said softly, "I'm just… I guess it's memories from the last time I was on a bridge, it's just making me… nervous."

Michonne's face relaxed. "Yea, that would make anyone nervous" she replied, reaching out for Rick's hand and gently rubbing her fingers across his knuckles. "You wanna talk about it?"

"No," he said, slowly pulling his hand from hers. "I'm okay, really, I'm just not a big fan of bridges. Not anymore at least."

Michonne let her eyes wander over him for a few more seconds before lowering her gaze and allowing him to drop the subject. They continued forwards in a comfortable silence while the storm raged around them.

It took over an hour and a half to make it across the bridge. The wagon wheels got stuck twice and everyone had to dismount and push the wheels out of the hole. The rainstorm was getting worse and the wind was becoming concerning. All of their clothing was soaked, and humans and horses were miserable. Once they made it to the other side they found shelter in a dilapidated building to dry off a little.

It's roof barely was shelter from the rain and wind, and water poured in through large cracks in the ceiling, but it was slightly better than outside.

Judith started a fire in a metal trash can that was discarded inside, and the group tried to warm up so that they didn't get sick. While most tried to rest and dry off, Judith came over to Michonne who was standing by the door to the building, on watch. She stood shoulder to shoulder with her mother, and the two of them stoically kept an eye out for danger.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

Michonne turned to look at her as Judith continued to stare straight ahead.

"I shouldn't have come and brought Jude too. I know I messed everything up and now you're worried about us, but you don't have to be."

"I'll always be worried about you," Michonne said, reaching over and playing with one of Judith's braids. "You're my daughter, if you were _home_ I'd be worried about you. But you being here is dangerous. These people will kidnap or kill you and Jude if they ever catch you."

"Why?" Judith asked.

"They steal people. They take people and experiment on them. That was what happened to your dad. We wanted to keep the two of you away from them, but it's too late to go back now. Judith you need to promise me if something goes wrong, you will take Jude and get out of here. You'll go straight back to Alexandria and you won't come looking for us, you won't try to save us."

"But…"

"Judith!" Michonne said, her eyes pleading.

"Okay, I promise mom," she agreed, "but will you do me a favor?"

Michonne squinted at her daughter in curiosity.

"What?" she asked softly.

"Promise you'll come back."

Michonne smiled and nudged her daughter playfully with her elbow.

"Okay," Michonne said with a nod. She pressed a kiss to her daughter's cheek. "Go back inside baby, go get dry."

"What about you?" Judith asked.

Michonne smiled at her daughter's concern. "I'll be alright."

Judith wrapped her arms around Michonne's shoulders and Michonne hugged her back. The girl then made her way back inside the building.

Michonne smiled at her daughter's apology. She was still angry, Judith should've known better, but she realized her daughter knew her mistake. Michonne still had a sick feeling knowing the kids were with them, but there was nothing that could be done now.

Inside, Jude had gotten restless with the waiting, and pulled a comic book from his bag.

"Luke Cage?" Rick asked, reading the cover on the book.

Jude nodded.

"You read comics too huh? Your brother loved them."

"Yea, mom told me. She gave me his old ones."

"Did she?" Rick asked. "Carl's favorite was Spiderman."

"Spiderman is cool too. Do you like comics?" Jude asked.

Rick smiled. "I never really got into reading them. I would just buy 'em for Carl. Maybe I should've read them with him. I'm sure he would've liked that."

"Mom told me she used to read them when Carl was done with them."

"Yea, she did," Rick agreed. "She and Carl were really close. Best friends really."

"I wish I got to meet him," Jude said. "Mom told me a lot about him and you, and my other brother Andre. I had two brothers that I didn't get to meet. Judith is okay, but I really want a brother."

Rick smiled at his son and placed a hand on his head, lovingly ruffling his hair. His smile slowly dropped.

"Jude, son, what you and your sister did…"

"I know dad, it was stupid. But I wasn't gonna let her go by herself. And I probably should've told you she was gonna go, but… I'd rather be in danger out here with mom, and Judith and you, then be safe at home and not know what's happening. Judith does too, that's why we came."

"Son, these people are dangerous…"

"I know, but we are too."

Rick sighed. If only his son knew that he was walking closer to the people that would snatch him up permanently if they had any idea who and what he was.

Before he could respond to Jude's comment, Michonne called to everyone that the break was over. The day had just begun, and they had miles to cover.

***can08writer***

The small group walked for days, traversing miles of wild former highway. The rain and wind continued, making their travels soggy and difficult. Washed out roads, and obstacles like fallen trees made them constantly have to change course or go back the way they came. After 5 days the rain finally stopped and they were able to travel more comfortably.

When the group stopped for the night, Judith and Jude tried to be as helpful as possible, feeding the horses, making the cooking fire, and setting up the tent while Rick, Michonne, and the others secured the site and checked for walkers or other dangers.

Judith and Rick had gone hunting together, and he was amazed at her skill with the slingshot. She'd bagged a squirrel and a crow with precision.

"Who taught you that?" Rick asked, shaking his head slightly.

Judith shrugged. "Uncle Daryl taught me the slingshot, and I taught Jude. Mom taught me how to use her katana, and Mr. Jesus taught me how to shoot."

"You're amazing at it," Rick complimented her.

"Two years ago we had a kids olympics with all the communities and I won first place in slingshot, and second in knife throwing out of all the kids in the 12-15 age category," Judith said proudly.

"Jude got third in slingshot, but he was the youngest kid in his category. I practiced with him every day for two weeks. He beat kids way older than him."

Rick placed his hand on Judith's shoulder. "I'm proud of you. You paint, you shoot, you hunt, you take care of your mom and your brother, what more could I ask for in a daughter?"

"Dad, can I ask you something?"

Rick's heart leaped with joy when Judith called him dad.

"Anything."

"Do you remember what my birth mom was like? Mom said she never met her, but she knew that she sacrificed herself for me."

Rick was taken aback by his daughter's question, but nodded to confirm that he did.

"Of course I do," Rick said, taking Judith's string that was attached to the squirrel and crow that she'd caught, and wrapping it around his neck for the short walk back to camp.

"She loved you very much, that was why she made the sacrifice she did."

"Am I like her?" Judith asked.

"Well, I think you're a lot more like your mom, and maybe even Carl. But Lori, she was a good woman. She was kind, and she wanted you to survive."

"Do you miss her?"

Rick swallowed and walked besides Judith, carefully stepping over gnarled roots in their way. He took a moment to think before he responded.

"When Lori, your mama, was alive I loved her a lot. And when she died I did miss her. So did Carl and everyone else that knew her. I missed her so much that I started seeing and talking to her sometimes, even though I knew she had died."

"Mom talked to you when she thought you'd died," Judith added.

"Yea, sometimes when people lose someone, that's how people cope. And it's okay, as long as you realize that you do have to move on eventually. It took me a while, but I moved on from her. And your mom was there for me through it all, and I realized that I loved her, and then we became a family."

"Did you talk to Carl too, when he died?"

Rick let out a shaky breath and stopped walking. Judith's eyes widened, afraid that she'd said something out of line. When she saw tears start to come to her father's eyes she instantly regretted asking the question.

"Sorry. You don't have to tell me."

"No. Its okay," Rick said, swiping at his eyes. "Yes, I talked to Carl too. When I was far away from all of you I talked to Carl, and you, and your mom. You know why?"

Judith shook her head slowly.

"Because you give me strength. My family gives me the strength to go on and do what I think I can't. I never would have gotten through all those years away from you if I didn't draw strength from the people I love. Especially you, Judith. You're my hope."

Judith looked down, and she tucked a braid behind her ear.

"Dad. I know I was mean to you when you came back here, but I didn't mean it."

"I know honey."

"I'm glad you're back. It makes mom and Jude happy, and it makes me happy too."

Rick reached out with one of his arms and pulled Judith next to him.

"I'm glad to be back with you. For good this time."

***can08writer***

"The two of you stay here," Michonne said to her children.

"Tie the horses up loosely in the woods, not too tight so they can get free if there are walkers. One of you keep watch at all times, especially at night. You sleep in shifts. Give us until tomorrow morning, a few hours after dawn. If we're not back by then you go home. Understand?"

Jude looked terrified, but he nodded quickly.

" _Judith,"_ Michonne pressed, staring at her daughter.

"I promise," she replied.

"If you hear a helicopter you run for cover," Rick said, "don't let them see you. If they spot you, take a horse and head for thick woods. I doubt they'll land and look for you, but if they do…"

Rick turned to Jude now, and moved his head so his eyes lined up with his son's.

"If they come looking for you, you use the walker blood trick. Cover yourself with it, and head straight into a herd. They're scared of walkers, they won't risk themselves for some kids. Okay? You find a herd and travel with them until you're safe, and then you go home. I've done it before and it worked."

"Okay dad," Jude said with a nod.

"Okay," Rick said.

The parents stood watching their children, nervous about leaving them out there alone. Judith pulled Rick's Colt from its holster on her hip.

"Here," she said to Rick, "you're gonna need it."

Michonne smiled and blinked to stop tears from coming to her eyes. Rick's face mirrored her own. He smiled and looked fondly at his old weapon that had saved him dozens of times.

"My daddy gave that to me right before he died," he said with a crack in his voice, "and it's yours now. It's been yours for a while."

"Well, you can borrow it if you want."

"Thank you sweetheart, but you're gonna need it more. Judith, listen to me closely. If anyone tries to take you or Jude, use it."

"I will, I promise."

The family hugged each other tightly, not wanting to separate, but wanting this mission to finally be over. The kids followed Rick, Michonne, and the others to the gate of a ranch style house that they decided was safe enough for the kids to spend the night in.

Rick and Michonne turned to give their children a final wave, hoping that they'd reunite with them when the helicopter people were out of commission for good.

***can08writer***

When they reached the base that Rick suspected was the fueling station, it looked deserted in every way.

The gates around the military base were still intact, and although some parts had begun to rust or sink in the ground due to the elements, they still acted as a barrier against intruders. The grass had grown waist high without anyone to cut it, and there were no outward signs of human activity.

"You sure this is the place?" Dj whispered to rick.

"Actually, no. Helicopters could be landing at any one of the military bases around here. I don't know which one for sure. I would say we stake it out for a full day before we try anything, but we don't have that kind of time. We'll lose daylight and I don't wanna leave the kids alone for that long if we don't have to."

"Two hours will have to do," Michonne whispered. "We surround the place and watch for any activity. Afterwards we meet up here to report. If all is clear we cut a hole and go in."

Two hours later, the group got the all clear to continue. Rick used cutters to allow the small group into the base and they immediately got to work, carrying out their intricate plan.

Rick and Michonne's group entered the main building, while a second group went to search for the hangars where the helicopter refueling stations were. If this was the right military base and they found any stored fuel, the second group's job was to rig up dynamite that would blow the gasoline when triggered.

They entered the building through a door that was off the hinges. Charred ceilings and walls introduced the lobby, and it was clear that an explosion or fire had taken place inside here at some point. They crept over the charred remains of the interior trying to be as silent as possible.

They moved past empty rooms and hallways, many of them locked. They were on edge by the complete silence of the place.

"No one's here," someone whispered.

"Shhh," Rick hissed.

They reached a staircase at the end of the hallway. Rick signaled for them to split up, some stayed back at the base of the stairs, while Rick, Michonne, and two others crept up the dark staircase.

The sound of footsteps ahead made the whole group freeze where they were. Someone was walking around beyond the staircase door.

There was a mumbled conversation between at least two people. Rick held up his hand and they tried to catch some parts of it.

"... too small!"

"Well what do you expect? You think they care if we eat?"

"Look, I'm not going out there to hunt. Drescoll said _two_ drop-offs of MRE's and that's what we should be getting!"

The footsteps came closer to the stairs, and Rick and Michonne readied their weapons.

"Calm down Tim. They'll send us more MRE's next time. In the meanwhile we'll have to scavenge… something."

"Fuck them! Next time the helicopter lands we should demand to be taken back to the ship. This job is shit. The pilots can refuel themselves."

Rick held up his hand in the darkness, signaling for everyone to get ready.

"You already knew this job was shit from when you first got here. We're lucky they send us drop-offs at all. What, you'd rather be living with the savages?"

"I'm just saying I can't take this much longer. We can convince them to take us back to the ship. You can be pretty persuasive. You can give the pilots a happy ending if you catch my drift, they'll take us back after…"

Rick slowly turned the handle on the door but it didn't budge. He quickly unleashed four shots through the closed door. There was screaming, loud groans, and then running.

Rick kicked and the old wooden door cracked, creating a hole large enough for him to reach in and open it from the opposite side.

Michonne covered Rick as the door swung open into an office with a man who lay on his back bleeding and gurgling, and another who was dead. Knowing there were probably others, one of their group covered the men while Michonne, Rick and the rest of the group continued around desks and miscellaneous furniture into a back office.

The final room seemed devoid of anyone, but Michonne gestured to Rick, showing him a small coat closet. The two of them approached cautiously.

"Come out now!" Rick ordered.

There was no sound from the closet. Michonne held the handle and when they were ready, swung the door open as Rick aimed his gun into the small space.

"Wait! Wait!" a woman's voice screamed. "Don't shoot. Please!"

A pair of shaking hands stuck out from the dark of the closet. The woman moved into the light, her eyes flitting across their faces fearfully. When they met Rick's she squinted for a moment, and then a small smile of recognition emerged on her face.

"Rick?" she asked.


	7. Chapter 7

"Rick? Is that you?"

Rick was temporarily stunned by the woman in front of him. His mouth opened and closed quickly, and his gun lowered slightly.

"Put your hands in the air, turn your back to me, and come out slow," Michonne growled, taking control of the situation. Her body and katana were primed for any sudden movements.

The woman tore her eyes away from Rick long enough to notice Michonne. She glanced at him again before slowly turning around and stepping from the closet backwards, with her hands out in front of her.

Michonne came up behind her and quickly patted her faded t-shirt and pair of worn jeans down for weapons, while Rick and the others kept their weapons trained on her.

When Michonne was satisfied that she wasn't armed, she turned the woman around and glared at her, but the stranger's dark brown eyes were glued on Rick's.

"Rick you look so different. You look… healthier. Happier. They were looking for you for a long time, all winter. They didn't believe you were dead."

She took a step toward him, and Michonne's katana swung towards her neck, stopping with enough distance from her vital organ to give a clear warning.

"Rick, it's me!" she said to him with a nervous chuckle. Her eyes flickered from him to Michonne who was staring her down. Rick watched her silently, his grip alternating between tightening and loosening on the handle of his weapon, his widened eyes betraying his inner conflict. Michonne reckoned this was the woman that had let Rick free in exchange for sex.

"Shut up," Michonne spat, "where's the diesel fuel?"

The woman's head pivoted back towards Michonne again, and she blinked rapidly.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about," she said, and Michonne's katana moved closer to her throat. The woman's wide eyes dropped down to the sword pointed at her neck.

"Where. Is. The fuel?" Michonne asked again.

To Michonne's annoyance, the woman focused her attention on Rick once again, pleading with him.

"Please Rick, I saved you. I did what I said I would…", she took another small step forward. Michonne pressed her sword harder against the woman's neck making her gag and stumble backwards.

To Michonne's surprise, she continued to speak, even with a sword to her throat.

"Rick you know I'm not a threat. You know me. I told you all about my boys, my children. I got you off that ship. They found out that I had something to do with it. They thought it was an accident, negligence, that you got out. I told them I might've forgotten to lock the door. They stationed me here as punishment for what I'd done, I'm not welcome on the ship anymore."

Her eyes flitted to Michonne who's lip curled up in a sneer. Her face let the woman know if she took another step closer to Rick she'd find the katana inside of her body.

Rick realized that he hadn't spoken all this time. He got a hold of himself and focused on the mission again.

"Where's the fuel, Kathy?" he asked.

"Rick I was the only one who was kind to you, I talked to you, I tried to protect you as much as I could. If I could've helped you earlier I would have. You _know_ me Rick," the woman whined, tears tumbling down her cheeks.

Michonne couldn't believe this bitch was really trying to appeal to Rick's forgiving side. Her dislike for this woman only grew the more she was in her presence.

She continued to cry as she looked at Michonne, and then her eyes scanned to everyone in the room. When she realized no one was sympathetic to her tears, her shoulders slumped slightly and the tears turned off. She sighed and crossed her arms.

"Um… okay, the fueling pumps are behind building B," she wisely divulged.

"How many more of your people are here?" Rick asked.

"None! You… you killed them all, there were only the three of us. It's just us here."

"Where are the helicopters?" DJ asked.

"There… there are none. They don't… they just come here to refuel and drop off supplies."

"When was the last drop off?" Michonne asked.

Kathy's eyes flicked to Rick again.

"Stop looking at him and look at me," Michonne demanded in a soft whisper. "If I have to repeat myself again we're gonna have a problem. When was the last drop off, and why were they flying so far inland a few days ago?"

"We got word that there was another pick-up. An 'A', they'd been freshly bitten. The helicopter stopped here to drop off supplies and refuel, and then they headed out to pick up the 'A'."

"From where?" Rick asked.

"There are towns of savages… I mean, there are towns, they give us the people we need. You know we need people, and you know what we use them for. I don't know where this town is. I just know that's why the helicopter went inland."

Rick and Michonne exchanged a private glance. She knew a lot of things were running through his head. Neither of them expected this woman, Kathy, to be here. Michonne's anger was boiling inside of her, but from Rick she sensed that he was unsure what path to take.

Kathy's eyes also flitted between the pair, and sensing that they were silently deciding her fate, she began to beg.

"Rick, please!" she cried, "I saved your life! I… I thought we had something good. We did, didn't we? We had fun, and we gave each other what we both needed. Please don't kill me Rick! I got punished for letting you go. I got punished for what I did. They called you a savage. They said everyone living out here would benefit from what we were doing, finding a cure, so it was okay if some died in the process. We were saving the world."

The woman fell to her knees, startling Michonne, and making everyone else readjust where their weapons were pointed.

"Please?" she cried, bawling now. "Rick, don't kill me."

Rick swallowed, and fidgeted slightly. Michonne knew what he was going to do before he said a word.

"They won't let you back on the ship, and once we're done they won't come here to fuel the helicopters anymore. There's nothing for you here. Go. I'm giving you what you gave me, a chance to live. Good luck."

The woman sniffled, but her eyes widened when she realized Rick was letting her walk free. Rick turned his back on her and began to leave the room.

"Wait!", the woman called. "Can I come with you? Can I join your people?"

Rick ignored her as he turned around and walked away.

The others followed Rick out the room. They still had a mission to carry out. Michonne was the last one in the room, eyeing the woman unblinkingly.

She smiled in relief and turned to Michonne, slowly rising off the floor.

"I'll never survive out there, by myself," she admitted softly. "I don't know how to deal with those monsters, and those savages…"

"I know what you did to him," Michonne said briskly, cutting the woman off.

"Did to him?" The woman asked, "what do you...,"

"You used him, you raped him."

"Raped him? Is that what he told you? Please, don't be so dramatic. I _saved_ him. It was a business transaction," she said, bobbing her head with her words. "We both got what we needed, plus he got to escape."

"You are a predator," Michonne said, "you forced him to have sex with you."

The woman rolled her eyes. "I don't have to explain anything to you anyway," she said angrily. "What are you, his lawyer?"

"I'm his wife!" Michonne growled, and the woman's eyes got large.

"Y'know," Michonne said with a chuckle, "Rick… Rick is a good man. He hates to hurt women, even women who are manipulative predators. He has his own code and all."

"Oh I know all about Rick," the woman said, crossing her arms in defiance, "and I _know_ he's good. I knew he was trying to get back to something. I didn't know what or who it was, but it was worth dying for, to him. Look, if it wasn't for me, he'd still be drugged up on the hospital ship. I just couldn't resist trying him on for size, but don't act like I raped him, like he didn't have a choice."

" _Like_ I was saying", Michonne continued as if the woman hadn't spoken, " _Rick_ is a good man. But me… I'm not Rick. And I have no problem running my sword through a raping bitch like you. You should've never touched my husband," Michonne growled, before plunging her katana through the woman's chest.

The woman gasped and looked down in shock at the hole in her chest. Michonne watched as her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor. She sputtered once, and within seconds she was dead.

Michonne thrust her katana through the woman's skull, and then turned to catch up with the rest of the group.

When Michonne caught up to Rick he knew something had happened. She was avoiding his eyes. Deep down he suspected what she had done, but now wasn't the time to talk about it. They had a mission to complete.

Their group cautiously made their way to the hangars and met up with the second group that had located several gasoline storage tanks.

"We got it done Rick. We haven't seen any look outs. We located the tanks and set the charges, we just need to get the hell outta here," one of their companions stated.

Rick couldn't believe how well this was going.

"Okay, let's wait until we get 200 feet away from the fence before we blow the tanks. After that we get back to the house as fast as we can, get the kids, and get out of the area."

The group double checked the charges and then sprinted to the gates, exiting from the opening they entered through. They crouched down behind a row of trees.

"This is it. As soon as it blows we get out of here," Rick whispered. He nodded at the man who held the charge for the dynamite.

The man gulped and paused for a second before triggering an explosion that had them all covering their ears. An orange fireball rolled up towards the sky in a blinding cloud as the gasoline ignited. They could feel the heat, even from their distance away. Shrapnel from the fuel tanks began to rain down on the base.

"Let's go," Rick called, standing up and grabbing Michonne's hand.

The group ran away from the burning base, subsequent explosions and thick smoke lingering as proof of their deed. It was done. They'd destroyed the gasoline stores, and provided a huge and hopefully permanent blow to the helicopter people's source of fuel. They'd have to conserve whatever gasoline they had left now. They wouldn't be able to risk going far away from the aircraft carrier, and they certainly wouldn't have the fuel to come sniffing around Alexandria.

Dozens of wandering walkers attracted to the fire descended on the base, and Rick had to use the last of his bullets to keep them at bay. The group traveled as quickly as possible, headed back to the house they'd left Judith and Jude in. They'd finished their mission more quickly than expected, and the sun was setting fast, but Michonne was relieved the kids wouldn't have to stay there overnight alone.

When they finally approached the house it was dark, but the glow of the flames, and smell from the still burning gasoline fire penetrated the night.

The group made their way through the dark front yard. There was no visible light coming from the house, and from the outside it looked thoroughly abandoned. Michonne couldn't help but feel pride at how well her children blended in to this apocalyptic scenery.

"If you move I'll shoot!", a small voice yelled from the roof of the house. The group looked up but couldn't see much except for the glint of a silver gun aimed at them from the darkness.

"Jude, it's us sweetheart," Michonne called from below.

"Mom?" Jude called. They could hear his footsteps turn and run back into the house. They walked up to the porch and could hear Jude's excited cries to Judith that they were back.

The front door flung open and the siblings tumbled out excitedly.

"Did you do it?"

"Are they dead?"

"Can we go home now?"

Rick smiled and pulled his children into his arms while Michonne kissed them each on the tops of their heads.

"We're gonna leave at first light. It's too dangerous heading back right now," Rick explained.

Judith stuck her head out from Rick's arms and looked at the red glow that illuminated the sky.

"Is that from the explosion?" she asked, mesmerized.

Rick turned and observed the still burning fire. "Yea, we need to get out of the area as soon as possible, but we'll wait a few hours until it's bright enough to move. Let's get inside."

"I'll take watch," DJ volunteered. Michonne nodded, and he took a spot on the porch, while the rest of the exhausted team moved inside.

"I was making soup," Judith explained as everyone filed past, "there's enough for you guys too."

They sat to eat in an exhausted silence, while Jude recapped his day with his sister, explaining to Rick and Michonne how they'd protected the horses from a few wandering walkers, and he'd bagged another squirrel which was the meat in the soup they were eating. Just as they were finishing their meal, a deep boom could be heard off in the distance. Everyone froze to listen. A few seconds later, DJ peeked his head into the house.

"Looks like there was a second explosion, maybe an underground gasoline tank that we missed, but the flames have really picked up."

Rick and Michonne rushed to the door followed by the others and the children. The orange glow in the distance shifted to an angry glowing yellow, and the wind had picked up, undoubtedly spreading embers from the base to the surrounding woodlands. The explosion had now turned into an out of control forest fire.

"We can't stay here," Michonne stated, and there was no argument from anyone. The area just wasn't safe.

Within 20 minutes the horses had been located and hooked up to the wagons, and the group was on the road, making their way through the pitch black woods.

Two of their group members were riding up ahead with lanterns to partially illuminate the road to make the others aware of holes or cracks that the wagons could get stuck in, but the lantern light barely made a dent on the darkness.

The group maneuvered around a jackknifed tractor trailer that was blocking a large portion of the road. They had to go on to the road's median, and the wagons' wheels sunk into the deep mud left from days of rain, but luckily they didn't get stuck.

The night was eerily silent, but with the smell of gasoline and soot, and the ethereal yellow glow, the atmosphere was otherworldly.

A few yards past the disabled truck, the team members up ahead with the lanterns pulled their horses to a stop and held up their hands. The horses' ears had perked up, and they began to whinny nervously.

"What is it?" Jude asked Judith from inside their wagon.

"Shhh" she said, straining to hear.

There was a sound coming from the darkness up ahead. It was so soft at first that only the horses noticed, but it was steadily getting louder and louder. Growls, moans, and snarls. A herd.

"Shit!" Rick released. "They're going to the fire. Unhitch the horses, quick!"

There was a rush to separate the horses from the wagons. They'd have to get off the road and out of the way of this herd that seemed massive from the roar and growls approaching them.

Judith's hands shook as she grabbed any supplies she could from the wagon, realizing they'd have to leave everything else to the mercy of the herd.

Michonne was in the beginning stages of unhooking one of the horses when the first walkers arrived up ahead. Those people not freeing horses or grabbing supplies were trying to hold back the flood of walkers, but their numbers went from 5, to 15, to 50 within seconds. They'd run out of time.

"Head for the tractor trailer, forget the horses!" Rick screamed, as the wave of walkers were upon them.

Michonne dropped the reins of the horse she'd just manage to detach, and grabbed hold of both of her children.

"Run!," she screamed at them. "Get on the truck!". Her tone left no room for argument. With a nod, the two turned and ran for the truck while Rick, Michonne, and the others tried to keep the walkers at bay for a while longer. The horses that had been freed circled the humans, unsure of if they should run or stay as they'd been trained to do.

Rick swung a new machete that he'd gotten from Alexandria's armory, and the sharp weapon cut the scalp off of a nearby walker. A second one lunged at Rick and he impaled it through the face.

Rick and Michonne stood side to side in an attempt to prevent themselves from being boxed in by the walker herd. They glanced behind themselves and saw that the kids had almost made it to the truck.

"Move back!" Rick ordered to the others who were helping hold back the walkers. "Move back slowly, on my signal we're gonna turn and sprint for the truck."

They continued slicing and dicing as they retreated. Michonne's horse got boxed in by five walkers. She reared up in terror. Michonne wanted to help her, but she couldn't break the line of retreat or a human could get bitten.

The horse screamed in panic, and kicked with both feet, sending two walkers flying into the dirt. She struck out with her front hooves at the other walkers, clearing enough space for her to make a mad dash into the woods. Seeing an escape, the other horses took off after her.

"Okay, we turn and run on my signal," Rick said.

Jude and Judith raced back to the truck. It was higher than they expected, and the sides were slippery. Jude used the truck's flattened tire to hoist himself up onto the fender, while Judith pushed him from below. He crawled onto the truck's slanted hood which wobbled dangerously, and he almost lost his footing. The sound of walkers were now a roar, and from his higher position he could see that they were beginning to box in Rick, Michonne, and the others.

"Mom! Dad!" Jude called to warn them.

"Shhh!" Judith hissed from below him. Jude's calls attracted walkers who began emerging from the nearby woods just feet from the truck.

Judith hoisted herself up onto the truck's wheels, and Jude reached out a hand to her. She grabbed it and used her other hand to steady herself on the hood while she lifted one of her feet onto the fender. Jude braced himself and pulled. When Judith put most of her weight on the foot braced on the fender, her foot slipped off the the truck's exterior. Her hand was yanked out of Jude's as she fell, and he was almost pulled off the truck himself.

Judith crashed to the ground, landing awkwardly with her other leg underneath her.

"Judith!" Jude screamed. There was a walker not three feet from her, reaching for her with its mouth open.

Rick, Michonne and the others were now running for the truck, hearing Jude's warning that they were being boxed in. Michonne watched in horror as Judith fell.

"Judith!" she screamed, and Rick instinctively reached for his gun and fired at the walker, but his blood ran cold as a _click_ reminded him that he was out of bullets.

Judith fumbled for her Colt Python that was strapped to her side, but with her position on the ground she couldn't pull it fast enough. The walker was right above her and she managed to pull her knife, but before she could stab it in the head, Jude jumped from the truck's hood, landing on the walker feet first. The two of them crashed to the ground as Judith struggled to her feet, limping slightly. Suddenly, the walker on top of Jude stopped struggling.

Judith rolled the dead walker off of her little brother whose eyes were wide as saucers, and pulled him to his feet by his shoulder. She was about to ask if he was okay, but another walker came around the hood of the truck. Judith plunged her knife into its head.

The adults reached the kids, and without a word Rick hoisted Jude up the hood and on to the truck once again, followed by Judith. The others started to climb the hood and then onto the roof of the truck as well. Rick clasped his fingers for Michonne to put her foot in, and he boosted her high enough for her to climb directly on to the hood.

The walkers were on top of them in seconds, going straight for Rick who was the only one still on the ground. Michonne turned and reached for Rick's arm to pull him up behind her when a walker grabbed his shirt. She let go of Rick's arm to plunge her katana through the walker's head, while Rick rested his knees on the fender to get them away from the walkers which were now swarming the area.

"C'mon! Climb!" Michonne screamed, stabbing another walker that grabbed hold of the bottom of Rick's foot. For a split second he didn't answer, and she didn't understand why he wasn't trying to climb further up the hood. Her eyes locked with his, and his look said it all. He was going to do something crazy.

"NO!" Michonne yelled, reaching for his shoulder, but he slipped from her grip and dropped back to the ground, driving his machete into one walker and then another.

"I'll lead them away from the truck! I'll circle back!"

"NO!" she screamed.

"They'll knock over the truck!" Rick yelled, retreating from the walkers who immediately followed him. "I'll be back. I love you!"

"Rick!" Michonne screamed. Some walkers that had been following him turned back to her from her outburst.

"Get in the truck!" he called again, and he began waving his arms and screaming to get the walkers' attention again.

The others had climbed on the truck's roof and opened a hatch that led to the inside of the trailer. They'd climbed inside, taking Jude with them, but Judith had stubbornly stayed topside, desperately calling her mother's name.

"Mom!" Judith hissed at her.

Michonne stared after Rick as he disappeared into the darkness, a hoard of walkers stumbling after him, as the others, still drawn to the people on the truck began to scratch and bang on the truck's walls, rocking the unstable vehicle from side to side.

The same feelings of despair she'd felt the first time Rick had disappeared had returned. She couldn't leave him out there alone. She had to go help him, she couldn't just...

"Mom!" Judith screamed, her hand balling into fists, "it's Jude!"

Judith's words finally got her attention. She turned to her daughter and focused in on her face, her eyes were wide with terror. "He… he needs you."

Michonne was confused by Judith's melancholy tone, but she climbed onto the roof after her daughter. She searched around for Rick one more time, but he was gone, a section of the walkers still mindlessly following the other walkers that were following him, taking them away from his family.

She followed Judith down the hatch into the truck, where someone had lit a lantern. Jude was sitting on a wooden pallet in the corner, surrounded by the others who were avoiding her eyes and had the same pale faced expressions as Judith.

Michonne, still distraught about Rick, approached her son.

"What happened? Are you okay?" she asked him. She checked him over and noticed he was holding a dirty cloth to his forearm. His mouth was slightly open and he was breathing quickly, staring past her with tears in his eyes.

"Jude?" Michonne called, bending down so she was eye level with him.

Finally, Jude began to cry, and he moved the cloth to the side, uncovering a bleeding bite on his arm.

 ** _A/N: I know I haven't updated in a while, thank you for continuing to support and follow this story even with the large gaps in between chapters. The next chapter will be up much sooner._** ** _I hope you're enjoying it and I look forward to your reviews, I appreciate them so much!_**


	8. Chapter 8

"Oh my God, oh my God. Mom what do we do?" Judith asked. "Do we cut off his arm? Will that... will that work?"

"What?" Jude yelled, "no mom. No, don't do it. Don't cut off my arm, please!"

Michonne let out a choked sob and pressed Jude to her chest, frantically stroking his hair. Jude burst into tears and clutched at his bleeding arm.

"Ow! It hurts mom."

Someone in the truck said, "we have to cut it off, that's the only way to save him."

"If we cut it off that boy will bleed to death in here."

"He's gonna die if we DON'T cut it off"

"Shit, he shouldn't even _be_ here…"

As they argued about her terrified son Michonne rocked him gently, but she felt like her head was building up with pressure. Every word they said was pressing on her brain until she felt like she was going to explode.

"SHUT UP!" Michonne screamed, silencing everyone in the truck. "Shut the fuck UP!"

They had never heard Michonne scream like that before. She was under the most stress she'd ever been in. Her son was bitten, and her husband was out there with a herd. The last time that happened he'd been presumed dead for 11 years. She was trapped in a truck surrounded by walkers, and she had another child who was crying hysterically for her brother. They were scaring Judith, and more importantly Jude.

Michonne turned to Jude who had tears streaming from his eyes.

"Mom am I gonna die?" he asked, his voice cracking, his body shaking from adrenaline, pain, and fear.

"No. No you're not sweetheart. Never! You hear me? You are not dying."

"Are you gonna chop off my arm mom? Please don't. Don't do it," Jude pleaded.

"Shhhh, no, no I'm not doing that either. We don't have to do that. Know why?"

"Why?" he asked, his hazel eyes widened in fear.

"Because you're special. And you're immune to the walker virus, that's why. You're strong, and this bite, it won't kill you. You're not gonna die," Michonne said, gazing into her son's eyes.

"But everybody who gets bit by a walker dies" Jude whined, and Michonne's stomach dropped in response to his very true words.

"Yes, yes that's true. But YOU won't. You're gonna get a little sick, like that time you had the flu. Remember that? You got really hot, and you didn't feel well for a few days. You're gonna get sick like that, but you're gonna make it Jude."

Judith looked at Michonne in confusion but didn't say anything to contradict her. She was wondering if she was telling that to Jude just to make him feel better.

"It hurts mommy, it hurts," Jude said, tears dripping down his cheeks.

Michonne leaned in and kissed Jude's cheek.

"Oh I know honey. I know it hurts but you were so brave trying to save your sister. So, so brave. And I need you to stay brave right now, okay? Just like Daddy. He's out there leading the walkers away so we can get out of here. I'm gonna take both of you home and we're all going to be okay. Just hold on," Michonne said, pulling Jude into her so he could curl up on her lap.

She reached out her other arm so Judith could snuggle on the opposite side of her. Her children were terrified and she had to calm them down. They'd never been through anything like this before.

She received disapproving looks from some of the others for not cutting off Jude's arm, but she ignored them and calmly stroked her children's hair while the groans of the walkers echoed through the rocking truck.

She had to believe what Rick had told her about the mutation. She had to believe it, because she couldn't lose another son, and cutting Jude's arm off in this situation would lead to his certain death. Even entertaining the thought that her baby could die would break her in every way possible. Jude was immune. He was immune because he had to be, there were no other options.

 *****can08writer*****

Rick had been jogging for at least 20 minutes. His body was screaming for a break, and he was feeling dizzy from lack of oxygen. The walkers were slow, but they didn't need to catch their breath either. They were like a slow moving wave that washed over the countryside.

He searched the area up ahead for a place he could hide and ditch the voracious horde behind him, but there was nothing but forest, at least as far as he could see in the dark.

His plan was last minute. He acknowledged that a herd the size of this one could easily knock the unstable tractor trailer over, or worse, tear right through it, but he'd been naive to think drawing them away would be easy work.

He should've known better, considering his history with herds.

He glanced back at the walkers, still in slow pursuit. He'd been leading them on their original path back to the fire which had grown more intense and crept ever closer to their location. He hoped he didn't have to go straight into the fire and lose them amongst the flames.

He couldn't help but think about the last time he tried drawing a herd away from the people he loved. He felt a phantom pain in his side from the hole that had closed so many years ago but never truly healed. He'd lost so much time. Time he'd never regain. He'd lost so much of himself as well, spending years in a hospital bed, drugged and tortured.

Once this final act was over, he'd be more careful about risking his life. He had to live to see Judith and Jude grow up. He had to be their dad, not their savior.

He alternated between walking and jogging for what was probably 10 more minutes but felt like another half hour. He felt his body weakening. He'd never truly recovered from his time on the road, his starvation, and his gunshot wound, and he was feeling the effects of all that.

He staggered forward, determined to keep moving.

Some of the walkers were catching up to him, or maybe he was slowing down, he didn't really know, but the space between him and the dead was closing. He couldn't keep this up much longer.

 *****can08writer*****

"Michonne, we need to do this," DJ said firmly, after pulling her off to a corner while Jude relaxed on top of a pile of disgusting pillows the truck's previous owner had left in the back.

"No," Michonne stated calmly.

"If we don't take that arm off he's going to die. You know this. Now, we've done this before. I promise it'll be quick. We'll wrap it as tightly as possible. We have rope from the wagons, we could make a tourniquet…"

"No!" she snapped. "You're not going to touch my son. I know it's hard for you to believe, but he won't die from this. You know what _will_ kill him? Hacking his arm off inside of a disgusting truck while we're surrounded by walkers. _That_ will kill him. I know you're trying to help, DJ, but I'm not crazy. Rick told me that Jude will be different, and I believe him. I have to."

DJ let out a sigh and glanced over at the boy.

"Rick will be back soon. And when he comes back, we'll head back to Alexandria. That's all I've got for right now, but cutting off my son's arm is not going to happen."

"He won't make it back to Alexandria," DJ said softly, pointing his chin at Jude.

Michonne turned her back to DJ and muttered, "he will, he's a Grimes," before rejoining her son, and placing his head on her lap.

While Michonne sat with Jude, Judith peeked out of the top of the truck with two other people, waiting for Rick to come back. It had been about an hour, and the flood of walkers had mostly died down, with dozens of stragglers wandering around, but most of them had gone off in the direction Rick went. Judith's eyes flicked back and forth across the landscape, searching, waiting for her father.

 _He said he'd come back. He said he was back for good._

She understood he was trying to save her life, but he had to make it back. She'd only just gotten used to the idea of having a father again. She barely even got to know him, and he was gone again.

She could feel tears that she'd been pushing down for the past half hour worming their way out of her tear ducts, but she stubbornly swallowed them back down.

She would not cry. She refused. Not even if her brother was bit and slowly dying on her mom's lap. Not even if her father was possibly dead for the second time. She had to look out for her family, and that meant keeping her eye out for her father, or a break in the sea of walkers that they could escape through.

She couldn't believe a little over a week ago her most pressing issue was convincing her mom to take her to the kingdom.

It was funny how things change. Well, maybe not funny.

She sighed and stuck her head back in the hatch, carefully closing the door above her so as not to attract more walkers.

She approached her mother who was massaging her brother's scalp with one hand while applying pressure to his bite with another.

Judith swallowed when she saw the still bleeding wound on her brother's arm, and knelt down.

"How are you feeling Jude?" She asked.

"My arm is burning," he said softly.

"Here, I have more water," she declared, reaching into her backpack and pulling out a bottle.

Jude held out his arm, and Judith poured water on it, washing out the wound. She was careful not to waste too much. Who knew how long they'd be trapped in the truck?

"Thanks Judith," he said, resting his head on Michonne's shoulder.

Judith looked at her mom and saw she was holding back tears as well.

"Mom?" She asked, "do you think dad will be back soon?"

Michonne looked down at Jude's arm and then back at her daughter. She knew Judith wanted some reassurance. She was still a child, no matter how grown she thought she was.

"Yea," Michonne said, her voice unusually high. "Yea, he'll be back soon. And then we'll be out of here and on our way home."

Jude studied Michonne's face, trying to assess her true feelings. He trusted his mom, that this bite wouldn't kill him like it did to everyone else, but what if she was wrong? What if she was just saying that to make him feel better? The bite hurt, but he didn't feel like a walker. Maybe she was right?

Judith noticed he was studying their faces and she gave him a brave smile. Jude turned back to Michonne and she flashed him a smile as well.

"Daddy will be back in a little while," she reiterated.

Jude returned her reassuring smile, but he didn't miss that the smile didn't reach her eyes.

 *****can08writer*****

He began to jog again, his chest tightening from the effort. He couldn't keep this up much longer. He had to get out of the way of this herd. He'd have to do the walker blood trick to get them off his trail.

Rick turned and faced the herd, and waited for the quickest walkers to catch up. Three large male walkers were at the front of the pack, stumbling towards Rick, their dead eyes staring at his unblinkingly.

He lifted his machete while he took a few steps back, trying to deal with the leading walkers one on one rather than three on one. As soon as one walker got close enough, Rick beheaded it. He didn't have time to do anything else as the second walker was on him, it's teeth trying to take a chunk from his shoulder. Rick spun and lodged his machete into that walker's head. He struggled to dislodge the weapon from it's skull. He yanked three times before it slid out.

The third walker was on him now, closely followed by others. Rick disemboweled the third walker, and immediately reached down, grabbing its cold, rotten intestines and smearing them on his shirt and head as quickly as he could. He stopped long enough to swing his machete at a fourth walker before scooping more innards up and smearing them on himself.

A fifth walker, unconvinced by his smell, reached its arms towards him, but Rick promptly cut its hands off. It didn't seem to be working, he was too close to the walkers and they could see him using his machete.

Just when he thought he'd have to run again, a loud boom sounded from the raging fire. The walkers turned in their paths towards Rick, and immediately stumbled off towards the base, which apparently still contained explosive material.

The herd wandered away from Rick. He slowly reached down to smear more walker guts on himself, just to make sure he completely masked his smell, and he headed back towards the truck, walking straight past the unsuspecting walkers.

 *****can08writer*****

Rick had been gone for two hours, and in that time Jude's situation had gotten worse. The bite was warm to the touch and had begun to throb, even though Michonne had finally gotten it to stop bleeding. She had cut a strip of fabric from her shirt that she wrapped around the wound and kept pressure.

"You okay baby?" she asked him.

He shrugged and turned away from her, his eyes scanning the dark truck, the sound of walkers haphazardly banging into and clawing at the walls of it temporarily distracting him.

"Jude?" she asked, placing her hand underneath her son's chin and turning his head towards her. Even though she'd turned his face, his eyes were still downcast, staring at the dirty floor.

"Baby, what is it? You can tell me," Michonne said softly. "You can tell me anything."

He sighed and his shoulders slumped slightly, but he kept quiet.

"C'mon sweetheart," she said.

He finally looked up at his mother. "Mom, do you think dad will be mad at me?"

"What?" Michonne asked, squinting at her rapidly paling son. "Why would your dad be mad at you?"

"I got bit. I didn't mean to but… we have a long way back and I'm gonna get sick, and it messed everything up…"

"Shhhhh" Michonne said, pulling her son into a hug. "Baby, your dad won't be mad at you. You didn't mess everything up. You tried to save your sister and I'm proud of you. We're gonna find the horses, and the wagons, and head on home. Siddiq will take good care of you until you're feeling better."

"Mom, is it too late to cut off my arm?"

"What?" Michonne asked, "Jude what are you…"

"I was scared before, but I think you gotta do it. My arm is still burning, it hurts more and more. I think the walker bite is making me sick. Maybe dad was wrong, maybe I'm not special. If you cut it off it'll make me better, right?"

Michonne blinked rapidly while she processed what her son had said. She felt her heart clench because she'd considered the same thing. She was betting her son's life on a theory Rick had. What if this mutation wasn't genetic? What if the doctors were wrong? Or they lied to him? What if Jude wasn't special? Her refusal to remove his arm could kill him. But removing his arm could kill him too. They had nothing to stop him from bleeding out. They had no antibiotics. They had no clean gauze to wrap the wound. She couldn't do it and watch her son die a painful, bloody death in front of her eyes.

It had happened before, after Tyrese had been bit. She'd removed his arm with her katana, and watched as he'd bled to death within an hour. She could only imagine how fast an 11 year old boy would succumb to the same injuries.

He was staring at her, and she knew he was waiting for a response. She thought about giving him a reassuring answer, but his narrowed eyes clearly told her that she needed to be honest with him. His life was in danger and he deserved to know what she really thought.

"Baby, I don't think cutting your arm off is going to help you. If I thought it would keep you safe I would do it in a second. I'd do anything to keep you safe," Michonne said, staring into her son's eyes. "But cutting your arm off could kill you. It probably _would_ kill you," she admitted. "I believe your dad. I believe that you can beat this. I always thought you were my special boy, and your dad confirmed it. You're going to make it through this."

Jude tilted his head and pressed his lips together as he reflected on his mother's words.

"Okay," he said. "I believe dad too."

"Okay," Michonne agreed. She leaned over and pressed her lips against her son's forehead, which was noticeably warmer. She closed her eyes for a moment and prayed to God that it was just her imagination.

 *****can08writer*****

Rick finally reached the small stretch of road where he left his family. Dozens of walkers were still roaming across the highway and halfheartedly crashing into the side of the truck, but their numbers were more manageable now.

His walker guts camouflage had worked so far, but he was exhausted.

He took a moment to lean against a tree and catch his breath. He was slightly dizzy and needed to rest for a little while after he checked in on his family.

Summoning the last of his energy reserves, Rick staggered through the wandering walkers towards the truck. The dead ignored him until he began to climb onto the truck's fender, attracting their attention. The nearest walkers began to grab at him, pulling on his clothing. The movement attracted more walkers, and within seconds the dinner bell had rung, and hoards were trying to pull him off the side of the truck.

Suddenly the hatch on the top of the truck opened, and DJ followed by Judith climbed out the top, pulling Rick up onto the truck's hood.

"You made it back!" DJ said with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Yeah," Rick said, still panting and exhausted, his entrail covered body heaved as he caught his breath.

"Daddy!" Judith called, crashing into Rick and hugging his neck so tightly he had trouble breathing for a few seconds. She seemed to be oblivious that he was covered in walker guts.

"Hi Judith, I'm okay. It's okay sweetheart," Rick said, rubbing her back to comfort her. "I told you I'd come back."

Judith snuggled into Rick tighter, her sobs shaking his body. It was then that Rick realized something was wrong.

He slowly pushed Judith away from himself to look into her eyes. "Sweetheart, where's mom? Where's Jude?"

Judith sniffled, her eyes were red and wet and her lip trembled.

Rick looked up at DJ who was avoiding eye contact.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked, immediately knowing something had happened.

"Jude. He… he…" Judith couldn't finish her sentence.

Rick shot up from his crouched position. "Take me to them," Rick demanded of DJ.

DJ nodded and led the way back through the opening and into the truck. Once inside, Rick noticed an immediate hush had fallen over everyone. Eyes watched as he made his way towards Michonne and Jude who were huddled in the corner. Michonne looked up to see Rick standing there. She had a moment of panic when she saw the blood smeared across his arms and shirt, but when she realized it wasn't his she let out a small sigh of relief.

At least she wasn't alone in this.

Rick's eyes scanned his wife and child. The way Jude was leaning against the truck's walls, the pale look to his face, and the strip of fabric wrapped around his arm told Rick everything he needed to know.

"No!" Rick said in defiance. He looked at Michonne, back to Jude's arm, and then back to Michonne again. "Tell me it wasn't a walker," he demanded.

Jude swallowed but put on a brave face. Before Michonne could say anything he spoke up.

"It was, dad. A walker bit me. I'm sorry."

Rick's heart broke at his son's words, but he was even more destroyed by the resigned look on Jude's face. He had the eyes of someone who knew they were going to die.

"No," Rick breathed, his voice barely audible. He knelt down in front of his son, and took his hand in his. "No. I can't… I can't lose another son to this. I won't. You're gonna be okay Jude. Now that I know what I know, you're gonna be okay."

Rick reached out and ran his fingers through his son's curly hair, feeling the warmth of his forehead and scalp. The fever had already started.

"You can survive this, and you will. Just like I did. And a few days from now we'll be back home, laughing about this whole thing. You'll see." He leaned over and placed a kiss to Jude's head.

He then turned to Michonne. Her eyes were glimmering, and her lip trembled with the effort of keeping in her tears. He was having flashbacks of their final moments with Carl, and he knew she was too. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, placing a kiss on the back of it.

"You did good, not cutting it off. You did good."

Rick turned back to Jude. "Now son, there's some things we have to do to get you ready for what comes next."

 _ **Author's Note: Thank you for your patience with the update, the next chapter is coming soon. Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!**_


	9. Chapter 9

"What should we expect?" Michonne asked Rick. The two of them were huddled on the roof of the truck, away from Jude, Judith, and the others to get some privacy.

Rick had sprung into action after seeing his son's bite, removing the boy's shirt, placing wet rags under his arms and on his neck, and forcing him to drink large amounts of water. Jude had been a good sport through it all, knowing that his father was trying to help, but he looked terrified and with good reason.

Judith was presently distracting him with a game of "I'm going on a picnic," while the others were concocting a strategy to get them all on the road to Alexandria, so the parents took the opportunity to get some privacy and discuss their son.

"I don't know how this bite will affect him. I don't know if he'll react differently from how I did." Rick pressed his thumb to his eye and sighed. "I don't know if it'll be different because he was bitten, while I was injected. There are so many factors that are different…"

When Rick saw the distraught look on Michonne's face and the way her lip trembled, he stopped his sentence. He was terrified about all of this, but he didn't need to share everything he was thinking. He had to give her some hope to work with.

"I got a high fever, I remember the nurses saying 110 before I passed out. I had chills, the sweats, I reacted the way anyone would who's been bitten by a walker. They spent most of the time cooling me down and giving me fluids. The fever peaked on day two. That was when I thought I would die. After the fever peaked it began to drop rapidly. A few hours after that it went to 100 and it's been there ever since."

Rick stared into Michonne's eyes. "We have to keep him from overheating, I think that's the main danger. If we keep him cool we can give his body time to fight back, to keep the infection under control."

Michonne nodded at Rick and unconsciously pulled her M necklace.

"Maybe Kathy could've told us a little more about what to expect… she could've told me what we should do for him. You think I should've…?"

"No!" Michonne said quickly. "No, you shouldn't've brought her with us. She hurt you, and she deserved what she got."

Rick nodded and then tilted his head and gazed into Michonne's eyes.

"Did you kill her?"

"Yes," Michonne admitted, not batting an eye. "Yes, I'll kill anyone who hurts you. Anyone who uses you like she did. I'll kill anyone who hurts our family."

"Thank you," Rick said, tenderly reaching out and cupping Michonne's chin. "I couldn't have done it. I wouldn't have, but I'm okay that you did. If the situation had been reversed, I would have killed the man who did that to you too."

Rick leaned in and placed a small kiss to Michonne's lips. "Our son will be okay. I… I can't promise it, but I feel it. We just have to get him out of here."

"Let's figure out how," Michonne said, squeezing Rick's hand before leading him back inside.

 _***can08writer***_

 _Thwap._ Michonne beheaded two walkers simultaneously from her perch on the hood of the truck.

"Go!" she yelled to the others, who jumped from the truck and cleared a path directly in front of it.

Judith helped her brother climb the ladder leading to the roof of the tractor trailer. He needed the help seeing as though he could only use one arm.

As the others kept the remaining walkers at bay, Judith and Jude got to the hood of the truck. Rick reached up and grabbed Jude's waist, gently lowering him to the ground. He reached back up and grabbed Judith, helping her down as well. Michonne was the last off the hood, and Rick held one of her hands to steady her as she jumped.

They were all down now, and following the plan, the group moved as a single unit towards the woods, keeping the children in the middle of the group.

"Go! hurry!" Rick warned, disemboweling a walker that got too close.

They dashed into the woods, Michonne gripping Jude on his left side, and Judith flanking him on the right. Rick was behind them, backing them up.

The fires still raged in the distance, and soot and smoke filled the air, but they ran through the shadowy forest, staying one step ahead of the walkers behind them.

"We just have to lose them somewhere," a woman from the group said, pointing to a dense cluster of trees up ahead. "They aren't close enough to see us, we stay quiet they'll go right past."

The group heeded her words and crouched behind a collection of trees, keeping silent. Soon, dozens of walkers that had followed them stumbled past, their uncoordinated grunts and groans the only sound that could be heard in the quiet night. They waited until the sound of snapping branches and vocalizations faded away before they took a path that circled back to where they'd had to abandon their wagons. They marched silently. Every so often Michonne or Rick would visually inspect their son.

Michonne couldn't see him as well as she'd like to, but from what she could see, his face had gotten noticeably paler. As she held his small hand, she noticed he was trembling ever so often, as chills wracked his weakening body.

"How are you doing baby?" She whispered to him.

"I'm okay mom," he responded, but she knew that was a lie. A brave lie he was telling to make his parents feel better.

"We're almost at the wagon," Rick whispered. "Just a little further."

Within minutes they were back at the wagons which had been pushed almost completely off the road by the herd, but by some miracle hadn't been knocked over or destroyed. Rick and Michonne allowed the others to collect whatever they could from the vehicles, as the pair fussed over Jude. Without horses, the wagons were useless, and they'd have to walk with whatever they could carry. Judith wet the rags that were tied around Jude's neck to cool him. Rick poured water into Jude's mouth. Michonne stroked and kissed his hand.

After the brief stop, the group prepared to get out of the area as quickly as possible. The threat of walkers, fire, and detection by helicopter was too high.

"C'mon," Rick said, hoisting a heavy pack onto his back. "We walk until sunrise."

"What about Jude?" Judith whispered to her mother.

Michonne swallowed and glanced at her son again.

"If he gets too weak to walk we'll carry him," she replied so he couldn't hear her. Her mind immediately went back to Carl, who'd gotten so weak she and Rick had to carry him out of the sewers. What would they do if Jude got to the point where even carrying him was too painful for him to bear? How could she survive watching him suffer? But immediately she pushed the thoughts from her mind. She had to hold herself together for Jude and Judith's sakes.

"Mom, I don't think…" Judith began, but a sound in the distance made everyone pause.

A high-pitched squeal rang out in the night air. The call of an animal.

Judith smiled and nudged her brother. "You hear that Jude?"

He startled. "Huh?" He asked sleepily.

Another call from nearby woke him up more fully. "Are those the horses?" He asked.

"Sure is!" Michonne said, standing up taller. She gave a loud whistle as did many of the others. They knew the sound may attract walkers, but getting the horses back was well worth the risk.

"Here, Lala!" Michonne called as loudly as she dared. "Here girl!"

Another closer whinny could be heard, and then the rattle of bushes. Within minutes, a small herd of horses arrived, none of them had been harmed by the walkers or the fire.

Michonne jogged up to her mare, planting a grateful kiss on her nose. The horses had some scratches from running through the dense forest, and they anxiously shuffled and stomped, broadcasting their nervousness, but they were alive.

The group spent a few minutes hooking the horses to the wagons and pulling the wagons back onto the road.

Rick placed Jude and Judith into the back of the covered wagon.

"Keep an eye on him," Rick whispered to Judith. "If he starts getting sicker, or you get worried you call us okay?"

Judith nodded, and propped a sack underneath Jude's head like a pillow.

"Hold on son," Rick said to the boy, whose eyes were slowly becoming glassy and red around the edges. Rick looked down at the bandage on Jude's arm that had soaked through with blood before the bleeding had stopped. "We'll be home soon."

"Okay dad," Jude answered before leaning back, getting comfortable, and closing his eyes.

Rick patted Jude's legs and then squeezed Judith's arm as reassurance. He hopped on his horse and waved to everyone else.

"Let's get out of here."

***can08writer***

Five hours later, the group was moving as quickly as they could towards Alexandria. If it were up to Rick they'd be galloping, but they couldn't afford to risk the wagons breaking a wheel or getting stuck. Michonne's horse was always right next to the covered wagon that contained their two children. Although she was acting as protection riding alongside the wagon, she'd already made up her mind that as soon as they stopped for a break she was spending the rest of her time riding with her ailing son. Judith would stick her head out of the wagon every half hour or so to inform her parents of how Jude was doing. He'd been sleeping for the past few hours.

Judith was tired herself, they hadn't gotten to sleep at all last night, but she didn't dare give in to the urge to sleep. As far as she was concerned, she was the cause of Jude's condition, and she didn't deserve to take a nap. She began to ponder all of the actions she could've done differently to prevent him getting hurt.

When she looked over at her brother, he had opened his eyes and was observing her sleepily. He knew his sister well, and he could tell she'd been lost in her thoughts.

"If I died, would you be sad?" Jude asked, leaning forward slightly as the wagon shook around them from the deteriorating road.

"What? Jude, really?" she asked.

"Yea, really," he persisted.

"No, I'd throw a party," she said sarcastically, patting his leg.

"Do you think mom and dad would get over it? Mom never let it go when she thought dad died. I don't want her to be sad again."

"Jude, you're not going to die. Dad said…"

"I know what dad said," he interrupted. "I know what they think might happen, but they don't know for sure. Just because dad made it through this doesn't mean I will. And look what happened to Carl and Andre."

He sighed and wiped some of the sweat from his brow.

"I feel hot. Really, really hot, and my arm hurts really bad. And we won't be home for a long time. I don't know if I can deal with this for days. I don't think I'm gonna make it Judith."

Judith's lip trembled and she grabbed her brother's hand.

"I'm sorry Jude," she whispered to him. "I'm so sorry for letting you come out here. I should've been a good big sister and stopped you. I should've been the responsible one. I'm sorry that you got bit trying to save me," Judith said, wiping the tears from her eyes, "I wish… I wish you just let me get bit instead."

Jude sniffled and squeezed Judith's hand weakly. "Nobody messes with my sister."

She laughed. "Except for you, huh?"

"Yea," he said with a small chuckle.

There was an awkward silence between them, and Judith knew they were both thinking about Jude's mortality. She was asking herself how she would survive without him.

What would she do if all of her brothers died? How could she live with herself knowing that her brother died because of her, just like her birth mother?

"Hey, did I ever tell you about the first time I met you?" Judith asked, talking just to fill the silence and distract herself from her brother's plight.

Jude let out a yawn. "The first time you met me?" he asked. "Wasn't that when I was born?"

"Nope, Mr. Know-it-all. I met you before that. I saw you the first time mom had an ultrasound. We could see you moving around in there, kicking and waving your arms. That was when I started calling you Bump."

"Was I cute on the ultrasound?" he asked, yawning again.

"I dunno, probably to mom. She started crying."

"You didn't think I was cute?"

"No. I just thought it was weird that something was moving around inside of her. When she told me that you could hear us through her stomach I did start talking to you though. I'd ask mom to read to both of us sometimes."

"You loved me," Jude said, smirking at his sister, but his eyes were barely open.

"I don't know about all that," Judith said teasingly. She observed her brother's pale skin and gaunt face. "Hey, maybe you should get some more rest. You look tired."

"Yea," Jude said. He closed his eyes completely. "But you _do_ love me, right?" he asked.

Tears streamed down Judith's face and she was glad that Jude's eyes were closed so that he couldn't see her reaction. She took a few seconds to compose herself.

"Yea Jude," she confirmed. "I love you, okay?"

"Okay," he breathed before drifting off to sleep.

Judith sat staring at her brother for another hour. In that short amount of time, his tan skin had become as pale as her own, and dark circles had formed underneath his eyes, except for his cheeks that were flushed a bright red. He was covered in sweat. He had no shirt on, and the skin on his chest was clammy. She had been wetting rags and wrapping them across his neck and forehead like Rick had instructed, but she didn't see that helping at all. She reached over and touched his forehead, shocked by the intense heat coming off of his skin.

"Jude?" she asked, his rapidly escalating condition terrifying her. She swiftly unwrapped his bandage to check his bite, and observed that the area was extremely swollen, bright red, and radiating heat.

"Jude, wake up," she whispered, shaking him slightly. He shuddered, and took in a deep breath.

"Judith?" he asked softly, opening his eyes to slits and blinking at her.

"Yea, it's me," Judith said, rubbing his warm fingers.

"Can I come with you?" he muttered.

"Come with me? Come with me where?" she asked, leaning in closer to hear what he was saying.

"To the park? Please? I wanna come. Mommy said I could if you let me."

"What park Jude?"

"I'll be good. I'll listen, okay? I just want to go with you."

Judith squinted at her brother in confusion, but in a few moments she gasped and burst into tears when she realized what Jude was talking about. They'd had this conversation before when Jude was 7 and Judith was 11. He'd wanted to come to the park in Alexandria with her, but she didn't want to watch her little brother. She'd told him no. She'd left him.

"Jude…" Judith said.

"I wanna come," Jude complained, his head flopping from side to side as he tried to stand up.

"Jude. Jude!" Judith said, pressing her hand to his burning hot forehead. "It's okay. It's okay, you can come, alright? You can come with me. You just have to put your shoes on and then you can come."

A smile flitted across Jude's face.

"Shhh, just put your shoes on Jude," Judith said, smoothing down his sweaty hair.

"Okay," he whispered, and he was asleep again.

As soon as he closed his eyes, Judith stuck her head out of the back of the wagon.

"Mom!" she screamed, "come quick!"

***can08writer***

By the time dawn finally broke, Jude's condition was rapidly deteriorating. His breathing and heart rate was fast, and although there was no way to know the number, it was clear his temperature was already at dangerous levels. Michonne and Rick had both climbed into the wagon, leaving their horses to be towed by the other riders.

Rick was furiously keeping Jude's skin wet with water, hoping the evaporation would lower his body temperature. Michonne was fanning him, and whispering into his ear, while Judith watched helplessly.

"C'mon son," Rick said, dabbing some sweat from Jude's neck. "You just have to go through it. I know it sucks, I know, but once you get through this part it just keeps getting better."

Jude hadn't woken up since he'd asked to go to the park with Judith. He seemed to be in a fever dream, his eyes furiously moving back and forth underneath his eyelids.

Michonne had propped her son up against her chest, rocking him endlessly as she fanned him. Tears dripped down her cheeks and she shook her head from side to side as she watched her son possibly dying in her arms. She couldn't do this again.

"Michonne, he'll… he'll be okay," Rick said, almost pleadingly. "This has to work. We just need to… we gotta keep him cool. His body is fighting the virus, we have to cool him down, give him more time. We have to get him in water. A river, with fast moving cold water."

Rick stuck his head out of the wagon.

"Hey! We need to find a river, now!" he yelled to DJ.

"According to the map, there's one that runs adjacent to this road. It's a little out of the way…" DJ returned.

"We're going," Rick stated.

"Okay," DJ quickly agreed.

They could hear the river from the road long before they could see it. As soon as the wagon stopped, Rick pulled his barely conscious son into his arms and hoisted him from the wagon. Rick's weakened state, and healing gunshot was a distant memory as he carried his son towards the water, Michonne and Judith following close behind.

The river wasn't very wide nor fast, but it was cold. Still holding Jude, Rick kicked off his worn cowboy boots and strode right into the chilly current. His muscles cramped in protest, but he ignored the discomfort. He reached down and wet his hand with the water, and then slowly ran it across Jude's hot head, plastering his son's curls to his head.

The boy didn't stir, and Rick rubbed more cold water on his neck and chest.

"C'mon, open your eyes Jude," Rick pleaded, pouring the river water through his hair.

Michonne followed Rick and Jude into the river after asking Judith and everyone else to stay onshore.

Jude was limp in his father's arms. Michonne trudged through the cold water to meet up with them, and together they moved further into the current, submerging Jude's body under the water, except for his head.

"C'mon baby boy. Please Jude, wake up," Michonne begged her son. "You're the cure. You are. You have to be."

The water circled the bereft parents and their sickly son. Jude was limp but still breathing, still fighting.

Michonne teared her eyes from her son's face to Rick's. "He's not waking up," she said, her voice breaking. "You said… Rick, you said this would work. Please tell me this will work."

"He'll wake up. He just… he just needs to cool down a little more," Rick said, wading into the water up to his chest, and dipping Jude in further. Michonne cupped her son's cheeks and held his head over the water. In her head she prayed for Jude to wake up, she prayed for the life of her baby boy and pleaded that he was really immune, because if he wasn't she wouldn't be able to deal with it.

After a few minutes of being in the cold water, Rick and Michonne began to shiver. Rick placed his hand against his son's forehead, and slowly ran it down his face to his neck.

"Feel his head Michonne, does it feel cooler to you?" Rick asked.

Michonne also caressed her son's face. "Yea it does seem cooler. I don't know if its just my hand being cold but… I think maybe he's not as hot."

She turned to Rick and dared to let out a small smirk. "I think he's cooling down."

Rick hefted Jude up further, but the boy was still unconscious, his body hanging heavily in his father's arms.

"Hang in there, buddy," Rick whispered to him.

The parents clung to Jude in the water for a few more minutes before coming ashore, their clothes dripping. Rick's arms were wrapped around Jude's upper body, and Michonne held his legs while they placed him carefully on the ground.

"I hope that was enough," Rick said with a tremble to his voice. Michonne's eyes never left her son's face.

Judith joined them and knelt down to study her brother.

"C'mon Bump," she whispered, a lump rising in her throat.

Rick continued feeling Jude's forehead and neck. The boy was still pale, and dark circles ringed his eyes, but his fever had gone down considerably. His once scalding skin was now just very warm. And then, Rick's heart nearly leaped from his chest.

Jude's eyelids began to flutter.

Michonne stuck her face right next to her son's. "Hey Jude, there you go baby. We're trying to get you cool, okay? Open your eyes for me baby."

Slowly, Jude's eyes opened.

"Why am I wet?" he asked softly, his eyes rolling shut again.

Rick, Michonne, and Judith all let out a quick laugh. Jude's question breaking the tension between them.

"We're just cooling you down. You got a little too hot, son. How are you feeling?"

"Cold," Jude said, his eyes still closed.

"Okay, cold is good," Rick laughed, wiping water from Jude's face. "Let's go get you dry again."

***can08writer***

After traveling throughout the day, the exhausted group finally stopped for the night. Jude's arm was still angry and red, his small body was wracked with chills and shivering, and he'd slept all day, but it was obvious that his fever had miraculously decreased since they'd dipped him in the cold river, and that one fact gave them hope that Rick was right about everything.

Now, the four of them were curled up in their tent for the night. Jude and Judith were sleeping, but Rick and Michonne were awake, holding a silent vigil to comfort each other as they observed their children.

A quiet knock on their fabric tent drew their attention. Michonne unzipped the door to reveal DJ.

"Hi, the watch shift just changed so I'm headed to bed. Just wanted to check in on you guys and see how the little guy's doing."

"He's still asleep, but his fever is going down," Michonne said with a small smile.

DJ shook his head in amazement. "How is that even possible? I mean, I know what you said Rick, but… It's just insane. After all these years of no one surviving a walker bite I just accepted it. I figured it was an eventuality, like death. And now, now you're telling me that you, and your children, are an exception. My mind is just… blown."

Rick moved closer so he didn't disturb the sleeping children. "I don't know how to explain it. I don't know why us, but it just is. I trust that Jude will get better, and he's already starting to."

DJ bobbed his head in agreement. "Michonne, when you said you weren't going to cut off his arm, I thought you were acting emotionally. I thought you were killing your son. I'm sorry for not believing you. That boy is a miracle."

"I wasn't sure my decision was the best one either," Michonne said with a shake of her head, "but I'm so glad I trusted Rick."

"Well, I'll let you guys get rest. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night DJ," Michonne said.

When DJ left, Michonne took her seat next to Rick to resume their watch over their kids.

"You should get some rest too," Michonne ordered, "I'll watch him, keep an eye on his fever."

"I can't rest," Rick said incredulously. "Our son is sick."

"You can and you will," Michonne insisted, placing a hand on Rick's chest. "Your gunshot wound hasn't healed completely, and you're still recovering from everything. We completed our mission, and our son's fever is going down little by little. The last few days have been a lot, and if you're ever going to heal fully, you need to get some rest."

"I'm not gonna…" Rick began, but Michonne narrowed her eyes at him.

"We need you strong. Rest. Just for tonight."

Rick smirked as a feeling of déjà vu flowed over him.

"You're always telling me to rest. What about you?"

"I will, in the wagon when we get going tomorrow. Okay? I promise." Michonne leaned in and placed a small kiss on Rick's lips. When she moved her head back, he leaned in to kiss her again, holding her head pressed against his. He didn't say anything, but the two of them spoke without words.

Rick turned his head and glanced at his son again. Jude was sleeping deeply, but the redness in his cheeks were becoming a slightly less angry pink. His son was alive, and recovering. He could afford to take a rest.

"Okay," Rick said softly. "Just for a little while, and then you'll rest."

Michonne smiled and ran her fingers through Rick's hair. She then grasped the back of his neck and gently pulled him down so he was laying with his head in her lap. She stroked his hair and he closed his eyes.

"I love you, Michonne," he said.

"I know. Shhh, go to sleep," she responded.

Michonne watched gratefully as her family slept in the tent all around her. Jude wasn't out of the woods yet, they still didn't know how his body would respond, or if the fever would suddenly spike. They still had days more to go until they got back to Alexandria. But right now, they were all alive. And she couldn't be more happy.

 ** _Author's note:_** _Hey y'all thank you for reading and reviewing, I truly appreciate you. Happy Mothers' Day to all you mothers out there. There will be one last chapter to this story, and thank you for sticking around, despite the fact that I haven't been able to update as quickly as I'd like. Thank you!_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: This is the final chapter of this story.**_

For a few days, Jude had been in a weakened state, sleeping twelve hours at a time, and only opening his eyes when his family forced him to eat or drink. Michonne feared he had some sort of brain damage or internal injury from the high fever, but still, it was days since the bite and he was still alive.

A few days away from Alexandria, Jude felt well enough to sit up, and his appetite returned. Rick and Michonne were ecstatic about their son's progress, but the others on the road were equally amazed. To them, Jude was a miracle child. A hope that even if _they_ weren't immune, one day there'd be a world where walkers no longer existed. Rick and his family were the start.

The others began checking in on Jude. Some to see if he was ok, others to just watch him in wonder.

"Soon he'll need a bodyguard," Michonne joked.

"Yea, and it'll be me," Rick chuckled back.

But after the parents noticed that their fellow Alexandrians began congregating around Jude's wagon as if he were some sort of miracle child, they became concerned.

"I'll take care of it," Rick said, stepping out of the wagon. After a few minutes, Rick returned and Michonne noticed that the others were somewhat keeping their distance from the family.

"What did you say to them?" Michonne asked curiously.

Rick simply shrugged and stroked Jude's hand.

Eventually, they approached the familiar steel panels of Alexandria's gates. Rick could hear the excited yells of the lookouts, and smell the animals.

"We're home," he softly announced to Jude. "We made it son."

Michonne kissed Judith's forehead in pure relief. As soon as the wagon stopped, Siddiq and Father Gabriel approached with grim faces. They both looked exhausted, and slightly terrified.

Rick hopped out of the wagon with a relieved smile, but it quickly dissolved from the somber mood.

"What happened?" Rick asked, and Michonne quickly stepped down behind him to hear the situation as well.

Siddiq glanced at Gabriel before stepping forward.

"A few hours after you left we realized… we realized we couldn't find Judith… or Jude. We looked for them, we searched for them for days, up and down the roads, the forests, abandoned houses, everywhere we could think of…"

Michonne opened her mouth to speak, but Siddiq unexpectedly grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"I am so, so, sorry, but we don't know where your children are. This is my fault, you asked me to watch them and I failed. And now they're just gone."

"Siddiq…" Rick began, but he wouldn't hear it. "I've spent days out there looking for them but it's like they just disappeared. No tracks, no trace. Their clothes are missing from their rooms so I think they left on their own, but I don't know why or how…"

"Siddiq!" Michonne said, trying to break his steady stream of explaining. "They're with…"

Just then, Judith stuck her head out the back of the wagon and both Siddiq and Gabriel almost collapsed in a mixture of disbelief, relief, and shock.

"They're with us," Michonne tried again, glancing back at Judith's guilty face. "They were hiding in the back of our wagon."

"I'm sorry they put you through all that worry," Rick said. "They wasted your time and resources, and stressed you out. They'll both be making it up to you with _their_ time and youthful enthusiasm by volunteering at the hospital for a month. Isn't that right?" Rick asked Judith.

She nodded slowly, keeping her eyes on her shoes and not the adults who were glaring at her. "Sorry Siddiq," she mumbled.

Rick's voice lowered to a whisper meant only for Siddiq.

"But first, I need you to look at Jude."

***can08writer***

"This is amazing!" Siddiq said, holding up Jude's arm to study the healing bite. "And this happened how long ago?"

"Days. Maybe a week," Michonne said, hovering near her son.

"And this doesn't hurt?" Siddiq asked Jude, gently pressing on the healing bite.

"Ouch!" Jude said. "It didn't hurt until you just did that."

"Sorry," Siddiq said, letting go of Jude's arm to grab a thermometer and then pointing it towards the boy's mouth.

"Again?" Jude asked, staring at the instrument. "You just took my temperature."

"I want to take it every half hour, just to make sure it's going down. It was 101 when you got here, still dangerously high for a week after the bite."

Jude looked at his father, and Rick gave him a wink and an encouraging nod. The boy nodded back and opened his mouth so Siddiq could put the thermometer in.

"So besides the temperature he's healthy?" Michonne asked, soothingly rubbing her fingers across Jude's knuckles.

"I don't know how, but it seems that way. The bite has healthy healing tissue around it, and I see no signs of a spreading infection. I… I can't believe this. You're sure it was a _walker_ that bit him?"

Rick glanced at his son and then Michonne. Many thoughts were running through his head. Relief that Jude seemed okay, relief that they'd effectively destroyed their enemy's means of getting to them, but also reluctance to share all the details of how his son was able to survive a bite that would kill anyone else.

Michonne could see the seriousness that was creeping across Rick's face, and she knew why.

"Siddiq, there's something we have to tell you. Something that we explained to the others who saw what happened to Jude and they promised to keep quiet."

Siddiq's eyes scanned the family and then returned to Rick. He nodded curiously. "Doctor-patient confidentiality. I get it," he nodded.

"I have a mutation that makes me immune to the virus. It's genetic. That's why they kept me so long in that aircraft carrier. That's why I have a continuous fever. It's from exposure to the virus. Jude has it too. His fever probably won't go down, it didn't for me."

Rick held Jude's hand and squeezed, gaining the strength to continue divulging this information. "They were using my tissue to create a vaccine for children against the virus. The children born around the time Jude was, they don't have the walker virus anymore."

Siddiq's eyes popped open and his mouth dropped. "Are you sure? How… how could you know that? Is that true for all of them? What is it that..." Siddiq asked, questions being formed in his mind too fast for him to get the all out.

"Siddiq," Rick interrupted, drawing his attention again. "They told me this, and they had no reason to lie. Everything they told me so far has been true."

"Okay," Siddiq said, getting hold of his curiosity.

"I would appreciate it if the whole town didn't hear the story of Jude's bite. I don't want this to be common knowledge, for his safety."

"Okay, um, yes I understand that. But… but… the ability to not be infected by the virus… that's something that needs to be explored. Something that needs to be tested. We could use that for good…"

"Siddiq," Rick said, stopping the man again. "You sound just like them."

The thermometer in Jude's mouth beeped, and Rick removed it and handed it to Siddiq. It read 101.

"The fever isn't going down."

"And it won't," Rick said, stroking his son's hair. "And I won't allow my son to be a lab rat like I was. That's mine and Michonne's decision, and we've decided on that. No tests, no lab work. Not until he's 16 and able to make decisions for himself."

Rick's eyes met Michonne's and then Jude's. Rick cupped his son's chin.

"He's gonna live his life like a normal kid. Even though we know he's special."

Siddiq nodded and placed the thermometer in alcohol to sterilize it.

"I understand. And of course, I'll respect your wishes."

"Thanks Siddiq," Michonne said. She stood up. "So, can we go home now?"

Siddiq rubbed the back of his head, still reeling from what he'd been told. "If it were anyone else I'd make them stay for a few more days at least. But… I mean, if what you say is true Rick then there's nothing more I can do. Jude seems pretty healthy except for that fever."

"Good, I can't wait to sleep in my bed," Jude said, climbing off the bed.

"W-wait. Maybe you should take some Aspirin, or… come in tomorrow for another temperature check. Or something…" Siddiq stuttered.

"If he's not feeling well or there's some kind of change, we'll bring him right back," Rick said, putting his arm around Jude. Michonne nodded to Judith who was sitting in a chair next to her, and the family left the infirmary.

***can08writer***

Rick gingerly climbed into bed next to Michonne, and she laughed at how carefully he was moving.

He gave her a playful look.

"Something funny?" He asked.

"No," Michonne said, shaking her head. "No, I'm just happy. I'm just grateful that we still have our family. I got you and Jude back. I'm the luckiest woman in the world."

Rick smiled and leaned in, kissing his wife gently as he cradled her face.

"Don't think I forgot what I promised before we left."

"Oh really? What was that?" Michonne asked coyly.

Rick reached around Michonne with both hands and cupped her butt, pulling her up against him with surprising strength.

"I said we'd make love when we got back, and I told you it'd be worth the wait."

Michonne smiled sweetly and Rick couldn't help but kiss her lips slowly. Taking his time with her, savoring the feel of her lips in his mouth.

Michonne allowed him to lead, following his pace as the kiss got more heated. Their tongues rubbed against each other and it just felt so good.

Michonne moaned softly and allowed Rick to push her down on the bed as he climbed on top of her, continuously kissing her.

"Mmmm," he grunted, moving his kisses down her neck. Michonne arched her back and let out a sharp giggle that made Rick pause.

"What?" He asked.

"Oh God, you're tickling me with your beard," she laughed, gripping his shoulders.

"That tickles?" He asked, amusedly staring down at her.

"Well it's been a while since anyone's touched me like this. I guess now I'm ticklish."

"Well I guess we'll have to get you used to this again," Rick said, pressing kisses to the area that made Michonne laugh.

She giggled again, her soft laughter lightening Rick's heart. He wanted to make her happy forever. He playfully nibbled on her earlobe and pressed a kiss to her cheek, cupping her face so they were eye to eye.

"Thank you, for being there for me for eleven years. Thank you for being loyal. Faithful. No one would've blamed you for moving on. I wouldn't have blamed you. Especially after what I…"

"Shhh," Michonne said, pressing a finger to Rick's mouth. "I was faithful because I didn't want anyone else. I never will. You're it for me. You're my all. You're my fairytale. I love you Rick Grimes, and I will always be yours only."

Rick's eyes welled up with tears, but Michonne stopped where this was going. "This is a night to celebrate, not cry," she stated.

Rick laughed and sniffled, trying to clear his face. "I'm yours only," he responded. "Never doubt that."

"Good. Now get back to kissing me," Michonne commanded, running her fingers up the back of Rick's shirt and impatiently removing the offending material.

Free from his shirt, Rick straddled Michonne's hips topless, and surveyed his eager partner before unbuttoning her shirt and quickly removing it as well. He continued his kissing up and down her abdomen, while his fingers wandered around the hem of her pants.

Michonne was getting impatient, but she knew what Rick was doing. It had been so long for her, and getting back into the saddle, as it were, was something that couldn't be rushed. He wanted to make sure she was ready, and she appreciated it, but the sight of his topless body undulating down her abdomen pressing sloppy kisses as he licked and nibbled at her was enough to make anyone ready.

She opened her mouth to say so, but he placed his finger at her lips to quiet her, and he painstakingly unzipped her pants and pulled them and her panties off in one fluid motion.

The room's cool air was shocking on her lower regions, but Rick wasted no time grabbing her thighs and hoisting them to his shoulders before burying his face between them.

Michonne's eyes slammed shut and her back arched once again.

"Mmmmmmm" she groaned, trying her best not to let out the string of profanities that were on the tip of her tongue.

Rick was too busy to respond, as his lips, tongue, and the heat of his mouth sent Michonne into a downward spiral. He sucked her clit into his mouth, and then used his tongue to stroke the tip over and over again.

"Uhhhahhhhh" Michonne released as her body began to clench in response.

"Fuck!" she whispered, conscious enough to keep her tone down. The last thing she needed was for the kids to overhear her cursing in the bedroom, or worse.

Her hands flailed for Rick, she wanted to hold on to some part of him. She wanted him to be right next to her as she flew over the edge. Realizing that she was searching for him, Rick clasped both of her hands, stroking them gently as her whole body began to tremble on the wave of her orgasm.

He wanted to speak to her, but he didn't dare stop the important work his tongue was doing, so he squeezed her hands as her lower body came up off the bed in a move straight out of the exorcist.

"Ahhhhhhhh" Michonne moaned, releasing one of Rick's hands so she could cover her own mouth. Her toes were curled and her body contorted abnormally as she rode out wave after wave.

Rick happily licked at her while he watched her squirm in ecstasy. After more orgasms in a row than he could count, Michonne's body slowly relaxed back into the bed, and she lay there, unable to move an inch.

Rick crawled back up her body and kissed his love, enjoying making her satisfied more than anything else in the world.

He plopped down and watched her as she caught her breath.

"Holy shit," she said, her eyes still closed.

"Holy shit is right," Rick said with a laugh. "I can do that all day."

Michonne pried one of her closed eyes open as her chest heaved in exhaustion.

"So can I. That was just a warm up. Give me two minutes and we can start round one. We have eleven years to make up for."

Rick laughed and pressed another kiss to Michonne's lips.

***can08writer***

The kids had been diligent in making up for the grief and stress they'd caused Siddiq and the rest of the community that went out looking for them.

After school, the pair headed straight to the infirmary for two hours of community service. Cleaning bedpans, sweeping floors, and doing laundry kept them busy, and once they got home they had dinner and then were off to bed.

Michonne and Rick were proud of how seriously their children took paying off their debt. Especially Judith, who still felt guilty for everything that happened with Jude. She'd even taken initiative and had crocheted a hat for Karina, an elderly woman who'd been in the infirmary for two weeks with moderate flu symptoms.

As she was the only long term patient at the infirmary, she made a bond with the two children, and would tell them funny stories about life before the turn.

"I used to own a gym," she explained to them one day.

"Like… gymnastics?" Judith asked as she mopped the floor. She knew that sport had something to do with people launching themselves off of poles and doing flips.

"No honey, a gym was a building that had workout equipment like treadmills, weights, stationary bikes, rowing machines… people would go there to burn calories and lose weight, or just to stay in shape."

"That makes no sense," Jude said, as he collected garbage to be burned. "They could've just gone outside and run around right? Or do work to keep healthy?"

"Well, that wasn't so easy back then. The food wasn't natural like it is now, and it had much more fat and sugar. And with electricity, people did much less manual work. It was easy to be both fat and lazy then. Those were the good old days."

Both children laughed.

"Oh what I wouldn't give for a slice of New York style pizza. With pepperoni and sausage. My, you children haven't really _lived_ without it."

The kids laughed again.

"Hey Ms. Karina, you have some good stories. Can I write about you for my history project? I have to interview someone who remembers life before," Jude proposed.

"Oh me? Sorry hon, but another child from your class asked me first. I don't think you'd want to interview the same person twice."

"Oh. No ma'am," Jude said, crestfallen.

"But I am just tickled that so many young folks think I'm that interesting," the woman confided. "I still got it."

***can08writer***

On their way home from community service, Judith noticed Jude absentmindedly kicking at rocks in his path as they walked Alexandria's quiet streets.

"What's up?" She asked, nudging his shoulder.

"Nothing. I just still haven't thought of who to interview for my project and it's due soon. I don't think the teacher is gonna give me a break because I almost died."

"Hey, you never know," Judith said with a shrug. "I'd try the sympathy path, see where it takes you."

"You are not nearly as afraid of mom and dad as you need to be," Jude joked, and the two of them chuckled.

"But seriously, you said you were gonna interview King Ezekiel at the kingdom."

"You think you're still gonna get to go to the kingdom?" Jude asked.

"Maybe not, but dad would take _you_. He was good friends with the king, and I'm sure Ezekiel would throw a royal feast in dad's honor if he showed up there. You should at least ask. Mom and dad are less mad at you then they are at me."

"Should I ask them to let you go too?" Jude asked, always looking out for his sister.

"No it's okay. I'll stay here," Judith replied solemnly.

The two were completely taken aback when Michonne and Rick were waiting for them on the couch when they came home. They stopped and stared until their parents gestured for the kids to join them.

" _Now_ what did we do?" Judith asked under her breath.

Michonne clasped her hands on her lap and assessed her children for a few seconds before she cleared her throat.

"So, your dad and I have been talking, and we've noticed how good you've both been at the infirmary. We haven't said much, but we've been watching you, and we're proud."

Rick nodded to support his wife.

"So on the weekend, we're gonna head over to the kingdom, and Judith, we'll go check out that apprenticeshi-"

Judith's gasp cut off the remainder of Michonne's word. Her face turned a bright red, and she pressed her hands to her mouth and began to cry. Michonne jumped up and wrapped her arms around her daughter, and Rick and Jude watched, concerned.

Judith sobbed into Michonne's shirt, and although Michonne knew the apprenticeship meant a lot to Judith, she didn't expect this reaction. Michonne gently stroked her daughter's back.

"It's okay baby."

"No. I don't deserve to go," Judith sniffled out.

"What?" Michonne asked.

"Everything that happened was my fault. I didn't listen to what you asked, I took Jude, and he almost died because of me. He would've if it wasn't for his mutation. I don't deserve to go."

Michonne's heart broke. She pushed her daughter's face away from her chest, and pressed her hands to her cheek, wiping away the tears that were trickling down.

"Your brother is okay, and you took responsibility for what you did, and you accepted the consequences. You deserve this because you worked hard for it, and you've proven that you can be the responsible, trustworthy girl that I raised. And I am so proud of you, Judith."

"Cheer up, I'm alive," Jude called from the couch, and they all laughed.

"Okay, thank you mom, thank you dad," Judith said, wiping away her tears.

Rick stood and patted Judith on the shoulder soothingly. "Well on that note, let's eat dinner," he said, rubbing his stomach.

The family headed to the dinner table.

***can08writer***

On Saturday morning, the Grimes family made their way to the Kingdom to drop off Judith. Both Rick and Michonne were vigilant about vetting the home that Judith would be residing in. Mr. Pasley, the man she'd be staying with was very kind, and hosted Rick, Michonne, Jude, and Judith for three days. He had two daughters and a young son who all took to Judith immediately. Still, Rick was sure to meet up with King Ezekiel and get his recommendation on the man's character, before deciding to allow Judith to stay indefinitely.

Judith was ecstatic to be in the kingdom and spent the time getting a tour of the place. King Ezekiel threw a huge party in Rick's honor and the entirety of the Kingdom showed up to show respect to the living hero who had disappeared so many years ago. Even people who were new to the communities knew Rick's story, and had seen the remnants of the burned out bridge. They didn't know about how Rick saved them from the threat of the Helicopter people, but that was okay. Rick and Michonne were only concerned that their entire family was safe and happy.

During the feast, Rick saw Jude sitting at the family's table, and after excusing himself from a group of curious Kingdommers, he sat next to his son.

"Not in the mood for dancing?" Rick asked.

"No, it's not that, Dad," Jude said, picking at the table.

"What is it?" Rick asked. "Oh, you wanted to interview King Ezekiel right? I can call him over right now so you can ask some questions."

"No, I don't wanna interview him anymore."

"You don't? Why not?" Rick asked.

Jude smiled and patted his father's hand.

"I have a better idea."

After their brief stay, the family headed home, saying goodbye to Judith who promised to send letters every week. And she was true to her word. They received letters from her, and sent letters back to her, every time the post rider headed to that community. She seemed to be enjoying her stay, giving her parents details of how she'd learned to trim horse's hooves, and float their teeth.

Michonne could see how much her little girl had blossomed at the Kingdom, and she was proud of what she was doing.

***can08writer***

Jude stood in front of his classmates, teacher, and various people from the community. It was his turn to present his project, and he was terrified. This was his first public speaking experience, and the eyes of 35 children and adults staring at him was making him sweat.

He swallowed down a bitter taste in his mouth and glanced briefly over at his parents who were seated in the front row, nodding proudly.

Jude rolled his shoulders and held up his paper, but for some reason he couldn't focus on the letters. It took him a few seconds to realize his hands were shaking, to his embarrassment.

He put his hand down and sighed, and was close to sitting back in his chair and asking someone else to go, but Rick began to clap for Jude encouragingly, followed by Michonne and the teacher, and then everyone else in the room.

Jude took another breath, tucked his paper into his jeans, and began to speak.

"My project is on a man who I think is very interesting and cool. That man is Rick Grimes, and he helped create the town that we live in. And oh yea, he's also my dad."

The kids laughed at Jude's assertion, and Rick had a beaming smile on his face.

"I didn't really know him until a few months ago, because my whole family and the whole town thought he was dead. But, surprise! He's not."

His classmates laughed again, and so did Jude.

"I know that we were supposed to talk about someone who knew the world before, and what that world was like, but I did my research and my dad was way more interesting _after_ the world before. When the world was different, my dad was a Sheriff in Atlanta. But now, he's a freakin' legend!"

The kids laughed again as did the adults. Jude looked over at Michonne who nodded at him. She could see Jude's nervousness was melting away as he talked about his dad. She grabbed Rick's hand, proud of the little nugget they'd created together.

"I picked my dad to talk about because he saved this whole town lots of times. I interviewed people who knew him from long ago and they had a lot of good things to say about him. Mr. Aaron told me about how my dad was the one who made us keep people on the walls to keep watch and keep us safe. He also said my dad brought all the communities together during the Savior War. And my mom told me about how dad died… or, well we thought he did, blowing up the old bridge to keep walkers from reaching Hilltop and the rest of us."

"Father Gabriel told me that my dad saved his life, and rescued him in the woods before he knew how to defend himself. Uncle Daryl told me about how Dad's decisions protected our whole group when they were out on the road, and so did Aunt Carol. King Ezekiel told me that my dad was the bravest man he'd ever known and he'd lay down his life for him. Ms. Arrendale," Jude said, pointing at his teacher, "told me that dad let her into the gates when she needed help. Even though she was a stranger and they had no reason to trust her. She told me that my dad has affected the lives of countless people around him, and she owes him her life."

Ms. Arrendale nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. The room was silent as Jude continued.

"And I interviewed myself…" Jude confessed, to the amusement of the room. " _I_ think that my father, Rick Grimes, is my hero. And I'm glad that he came back to us, so I could get to know him, and I hope that I can learn to be a good man like him."

Rick wiped at tears that were pouring down his face, and Michonne pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"So, I think we should give Rick Grimes a round of applause," Jude said, ending his presentation.

Ms. Arrendale was first to her feet with her claps, followed by the rest of the congregation, and then Michonne, as they gave Rick the respect he deserved.

Jude, relieved that he'd finished, stepped down from the podium and Rick enveloped his son in his arms. Proud that he'd fought through his stage fright, but also proud to have this young man as his son.

"I'm so proud of you, Jude," Rick whispered in his ear. "My greatest accomplishment so far is having you as my son."

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _I'm done with this story! Thank you for sticking around until the end. Like I said years ago, I do intend to finish all of the stories I've started, even if its years later. I hope you enjoyed this final chapter of After the Bridge. PLEASE write me a review and let me know what you think, and how this story made you feel. Hearing your feedback truly makes my day. Happy Holidays to you all, and a Happy New Year as well!_


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